HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Catering Services: House of Commons

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how much and what proportion of  (a) fruit and  (b) vegetables purchased by the Refreshment Department in the last 12 months was produced outside the European Union.

Nick Harvey: No record is kept of the country of origin of fruit and vegetables purchased by the Refreshment Department and so it is not possible to estimate the proportion produced outside the European Union.
	The Refreshment Department stipulates to its suppliers that produce should be grown and cultivated in the EU whenever possible, but it is sometimes necessary to purchase goods originating from the southern hemisphere in order to maintain quality, affordability and availability when produce is out of season in the EU. It is estimated that around 40 of the 300-plus fruit and vegetable items purchased by the Refreshment Department are affected by changes in season and so may at times be sourced from outside the EU. A further 25 lines, including staple crops such as bananas and pineapples, are classified as "exotic" or "tropical" and so are not generally grown in the EU.

Catering Services: House of Commons

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how much fish was purchased by the Refreshment Department in each of the last three years, broken down by species.

Nick Harvey: No records are available for the quantity of fish, broken down by species, bought by the House of Commons Refreshment Department. However, the quantity of fish consumed in the Department's catering outlets in the 10 months to January 2007, and in the financial years 2004-05 and 2005-06, is set out as follows:
	
		
			  House of Commons Refreshment Department—fish/shellfish consumption 
			  Kg 
			   2006-07( 1)  2005-06  2004-05 
			  Fish
			 Anchovy 133 140 82 
			 Black Bream 324 70 102 
			 Brill 60 30 30 
			 Cod (Icelandic preferred) 2,221 1,608 1,393 
			 Coley 0 0 429 
			 Eel 41 51 58 
			 Haddock (Icelandic/North Sea) 2,716 1,803 1,319 
			 Hake 0 52 5 
			 Halibut 78 90 132 
			 Herring 185 215 17 
			 Herring (Kipper) 139 156 66 
			 Herring (Rollmop) 282 333 47 
			 Kingfish 241 36 0 
			 Mackerel (North Sea, Cornwall and SW) 1,450 1,311 470 
			 Monkfish (Channel, SW Coast, Scotland) 559 257 32 
			 Mullet, Grey 377 119 25 
			 Mullet, Red 78 7 37 
			 Octopus 11 22 21 
			 Plaice 721 696 675 
			 Pollock 132 48 0 
			 Red Bream 0 0 255 
			 Salmon (Scottish farm SSPO approved) 6,515 8,181 4,899 
			 Sardines 166 177 5 
			 Sea Bream (EU Farmed) 435 56 145 
			 Sea Bass (EU Farmed) 546 721 570 
			 Skate 5 116 57 
			 Snapper 55 186 311 
			 Sole, Dover 69 54 131 
			 Sole, Lemon (English Channel, Irish Sea) 471 520 647 
			 Squid 199 502 582 
			 Swordfish 202 478 248 
			 Talapia 44 35 23 
			 Trout (English farmed) 1,096 652 401 
			 Tuna (line-caught, Yellowfin) 2,072 2,494 1,344 
			 Turbot 0 0 0 
			 Whitebait 0 0 0 
			 Whiting 0 0 0 
			 
			  Shellfish
			 Clams 101 85 49 
			 Cockles 9 7 13 
			 Crab (whole) 243 51 16 
			 Crab Meat 269 292 124 
			 Lobster 83 129 48 
			 Mussels 31 232 729 
			 Oysters 0 0 60 
			 Prawns 1,825 2,346 1,933 
			 Scallops 45 162 111 
			 Scampi 96 160 127 
			 Shrimps, Brown 10 21 22 
			 (1) 2006-07 figures are for 10 months to end January only 
		
	
	The Refreshment Department is committed to responsibly sourcing fish from well-managed and sustainable fisheries, and is developing firmer procurement policies in this area. Much work has been done over the last year to educate chefs and buyers to better understand the issues and the alternatives and the Marine Stewardship Council's "Good Fish Guide" is used as a reference tool by chefs planning menus. Purchase specifications have been updated to avoid buying fish from overfished stocks. The Department's fish supply contract is due to be re-tendered during 2007-08, and work has already commenced to ensure that sustainability requirements are made more explicit in the contractual specifications.

Cost Effectiveness

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission when the last occasion was when the Commission decided not to proceed with a hitherto agreed item of expenditure following receipt of the estimates for that expenditure; and what the item of expenditure was.

Nick Harvey: Information is not available in the form requested. However, it is not unusual for an item of expenditure not to be proceeded with if the cost is unacceptable. For example, work which is advertised for tender may come in at a higher price than had been expected. In such circumstances the scope of the work or the project design can be revisited through a "value engineering" exercise. A recent example was an office refurbishment where costs for new furniture were felt to be excessive. After value engineering, a mixture of new furniture and older furniture from stock was used to keep the overall cost acceptable.

Early-day Motions

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what the cost to the House was of printing and publishing early-day motions in each of the last three years.

Nick Harvey: House of Commons printing and publishing charges are calculated in arrears by financial year are therefore available only in this form. The cost of printing and publishing early-day motions (EDMs), to the nearest £1,000, in each of the last three financial years has been:
	
		
			  £ 
			 2003-04 573,000 
			 2004-05 614,000 
			 2005-06 627,000 
		
	
	The Procedure Committee is currently looking at this matter.

Food: Waste Disposal

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what the policy of the Refreshment Department is on the disposal of food waste by composting.

Nick Harvey: Following a joint meeting between officials and the House's waste management contractor in December 2006, it was concluded that an insufficient quantity of suitable waste is produced on the parliamentary estate for it to be economic or practicable to collect separately food waste for composting. Only a small amount of raw food waste suitable for composting is produced, as most fresh fruit and vegetables purchased by the Refreshment Department are pre-prepared off-site.

Official Report

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many paper copies of the  (a) Official Report and  (b) Order Paper are (i) produced, (ii) distributed to hon. Members and staff and (iii) unused on an average sitting day; and what the (A) total cost and (B) cost per copy was of producing the (1)  Official Report and (2) Order Paper in each of the last three years.

Nick Harvey: Typically, 1,549 copies of the daily part of the  Official Report and 2,690 copies of the Order Paper are produced overnight for issue in that form. This includes copies produced, on repayment to the printer by the distributor, for sale to customers, which include the House of Lords, Government Departments and the general public.
	From these totals, the House of Commons receives 831 copies of the daily part of the  Official Report and 2,405 copies of the Order Paper, the bulk into six Vote Office outlets; and the Parliamentary Bookshop for sale to its customers.
	203 copies of the  Official Report are distributed immediately to Members by the Vote Office early morning walks service and 70 copies by the printer directly, using Royal Mail postal or Data Post services. A further 42 copies are made available to the Parliamentary Press Gallery and departments of the House. The remaining copies are retained in the Vote Office for the whole of the current and subsequent session of Parliament, as required by the House, for issue on demand over that period to anyone entitled to receive a copy. Typically, at the end on any sitting day, fewer than 100 copies of the edition of a daily  Hansard received that day remain to cover the total future stocking requirement. Other than for purposes of management of overall paper stocks within limited storage space, which is infrequent, copies are not disposed of during this time. Any shortfalls during the period are met by reprinting copies using in-house production facilities. At the end of the period any remaining copies are disposed of as waste for recycling.
	269 copies of the Order Paper are distributed immediately to Members by the Vote Office early morning walks system and by post. 400 copies are made available to the Galleries for distribution to visitors. 373 copies are made available to the Parliamentary Press Gallery and Departments of the House. The remaining copies are retained in the Vote Office for issue on demand to anyone entitled to receive a copy. Other than a few record copies, copies of the Order Paper are not retained beyond the day of issue and any remaining are disposed of as waste for recycling. The surplus varies, but typically ranges between fewer than 100 copies and up to 200 copies. The print run is regularly reviewed to ensure any consistent surpluses are minimised.
	The total costs of producing the  Official Report and the Order Paper are not held in the form requested as the present printing contract pricing structure allows for payments in relation to printing consolidated classes of papers supplied complete. Internal staff, and other costs, are not associated with them or apportioned to individual documents. Historical data on the precise number of copies delivered during a particular period are not retained. The following figures have been derived from printing contract data and information given in previous answers. The total printing expenditure on the daily part of the  Official Report for the last three financial years, to the nearest 1,000, the average number of pages per edition and an estimate of per copy price was as follows:
	
		
			   Amount (£)  Pages per edition  Per copy price (£) 
			 2003-04 1,590,000 159 9.30 
			 2004-05 1,674,000 167 (1)11.00 
			 2005-06 1,716,000 176 12.50 
		
	
	The total printing expenditure on the Order Paper and an estimate of per copy price for the same periods was as follows:
	
		
			   Amount (£)  Per copy price (£) 
			 2003-04 975,000 2.00 
			 2004-05 733,000 (1)1.70 
			 2005-06 600,000 1.60 
			 (1) Derived by interpolating between 2003-04 and 2005-06 copy quantities.

Organic Food

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how much was spent by the Refreshment Department on organic produce in each of the last five years; and what percentage of total food costs this represents.

Nick Harvey: The Refreshment Department does not keep a record that specifically identifies purchases of organic produce and so it is not possible to put a value on its expenditure on organic produce over the last five years.
	'Organic produce' is generally taken to refer to fresh produce (meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables, etc). In general, the Refreshment Department does not tend to specify 'organic' in its fresh food purchasing requirements, having found in the past that suppliers have been unable to maintain consistency and availability in the quantities required. Consequently, organic food purchases are generally restricted to branded items such as sandwiches, salads, yoghurts, biscuits, cakes, etc, or arise from orders for specific events or special promotions. Purchasing specifications are reviewed as and when contracts are re-tendered and may be changed in the future as organic produce becomes more widely available.

Water

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how many bottles of water for consumption  (a) in restaurants and cafeterias and  (b) elsewhere on the parliamentary estate were purchased in each of the last five years; and what the cost was in each year.

Nick Harvey: The information is as follows:
	 (a) It is not possible to answer this question in the precise terms asked by the hon. Member as water is purchased by the Refreshment Department for sale in all its outlets, not just for consumption in its restaurants and cafeterias. In total, the House of Commons Refreshment Department purchased bottled water in each of the last five years as follows:
	
		
			  Table (a): bottled water purchases—(a) Refreshment Department outlets 
			  Number 
			   2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07( 1) 
			 330 ml bottles 19,176 0 0 0 0 
			 500 ml bottles 151,996 159,936 158,712 171,648 147,552 
			 750 ml bottles 180 16,716 336 0 0 
			 1 litre bottles 70,941 53,854 47,435 55,608 46,008 
			 Total (in litres) 153,402 146,359 127,043 141,432 119,784 
			   
			 Total cost (2)58,832 (2)55,895 47,820 53,188 45,058 
			 (1) 2006-07 figures: 10 months April 2006 to January 2007. (2) Including committee rooms. 
		
	
	The figures for 2002-03 and 2003-04 in table (a) include water issued by the Refreshment Department to the Serjeant at Arms' Department for use in the committee rooms, as no record of the quantities transferred is available for these two years. Figures for the last three years exclude water supplied to the Serjeant at Arms' Department for use in the committee rooms, as this consumption is listed separately in table (b).
	It should also be noted that the figures in table (a) include water sold to meetings and conferences held on the first floor of Portcullis House, which is supplied by the Refreshment Department. No separate figure is available for this consumption.
	 (b) In addition to water supplied to the committee rooms by the Serjeant at Arms' Department, a number of House of Commons Departments purchase bottled water for dispensers located in staff offices and communal areas. The number of bottles purchased for offices has been estimated on the basis of the annual expenditure cost, taking an average unit price to calculate the approximate number of bottles.
	
		
			  Table (b): bottled water purchases—(b) other areas 
			   2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07( 1) 
			   Number of bottles  Number of bottles  Cost (£)  Number of bottles  Cost (£)  Number of bottles  Cost (£)  Number of bottles  Cost (£) 
			 Committee rooms: 1 litre bottles (2)— (2)— — 22,586 8,357 17,988 6,656 18,720 6,926 
			 Offices: 18.5 litre bottles (estimated) n/a 430 5,165 620 7,449 507 6,095 376 4,513 
			 Total purchases (in litres) n/a — 7,955 — 11,470 — 9,380 — 6,956 
			   
			 Total cost n/a — (3)5,165 — 15,806 — 12,751 — 11,439 
			 (1) 2006-07 figures 10: months—April 2006 to January 2007. (2) Included in table (a). (3) + committee rooms. 
		
	
	The figures quoted exclude any purchases of bottled water made by the House of Lords for consumption on the parliamentary estate.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

Social Enterprises

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which  (a) schools and  (b) local authorities she has identified as having adopted best practice in engaging young people in social enterprises.

Jim Knight: I have been asked to reply.
	The Department does not routinely collect such data from schools. However, many projects undertaken by English secondary schools supported by the Enterprise Education Network (S'EEN) involve social enterprise.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Equal Opportunities

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department is taking to implement the gender equality duty due to come into force on 6 April 2007.

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department  (a) has taken and  (b) plans to take to ensure that it and related bodies are in compliance with the gender equality duty in the Equality Act 2006 by the April 2007 deadline.

Meg Munn: The Department is preparing and publishing a Gender Equality Scheme which will set out how Communities and Local Government will fulfil the general and specific duties set out in the Equality Act 2006 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Public Authorities)(Statutory Duties) Order 2006 (No. 2930). The scheme will set out the Department's gender equality objectives, and the actions it intends to take in the next three years to reduce gender inequality. The scheme will be published by 30 April 2007.
	In preparing the scheme, my Department has consulted employees, stakeholders and trade unions, and has taken into account the views expressed by consultees.
	In order to ensure that the actions set out in the scheme are put into practice, my Department has put in place measures to ensure regular review of the scheme and to drive progress in implementing the actions.

Gender: Discrimination

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what research her Department has conducted into the extent of goods and services discrimination  (a) on the grounds of gender identity and  (b) against those who seek or who have had gender reassignment surgery.

Meg Munn: The Department has undertaken informal research on discrimination relating to gender identity and gender reassignment and has had access to a study commissioned by the Equalities Review on this issue. The study covers responses from transsexual people about the level and nature of discrimination they have experience in a wide range of circumstances, including in the goods and service field.

Home Inspectors

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate she has made of the number of trained home inspectors needed each year to produce the expected volume of  (a) energy performance certificates (EPC) and  (b) the non-EPC element of voluntary home condition reports once home information packs are operational.

Yvette Cooper: Overall estimates of the number of qualified individuals required to produce mandatory energy performance certificates and voluntary home condition reports remain at between 2,500 and 4,500. These are based on industry estimates of productivity and working patterns, together with data on the numbers of homes marketed for sale.
	Numbers of qualified home inspectors will be supplemented by those who choose to undertake the Domestic Energy Assessor qualification (DEA), which will allow them to produce the mandatory Energy Performance Certificates within the pack.
	This qualification is due to be launched during January and February, with three awarding bodies now finalising their courses in order to allow candidates currently in training to qualify as soon as it is launched.

Housing Data Warehouse

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what property information attributes are held in the Housing Data Warehouse.

Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 8 November 2006,  Official Report, column 1571W.

Housing Data Warehouse

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what the budget is of the Housing Data Warehouse project;
	(2)  what consultants have been contracted to advise on the Housing Data Warehouse project.

Yvette Cooper: The Housing Data Warehouse has been developed within existing resources and no consultants have advised on it.

Local Government

Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local government pension schemes implemented contribution holidays for employers in each year since 1979.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 7 December 2006
	The contribution rates paid by local authorities in the local government pension scheme (LGPS) in England and Wales are assessed by fund actuaries every three years to ensure the long-term solvency of the scheme. The next valuation is due on 31 March 2007.
	Details of the individual contribution rates finally set by the 89 LGPS administering authorities in England and Wales are included in reports prepared by fund actuaries engaged by those authorities and are not held centrally. At present, the information from all 89 authorities covering many thousands of individual employers and the relevant actuarial firms to collect and publish this information for all nine valuation exercises that have taken place since 1979, is not available due to the disproportionate cost of collating it. However, I am in discussions with the authorities to establish how this may be done.
	Individual local government pension scheme fund authorities can provide specific details of contribution levels for their participating employers.

Mayor of London

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans  (a) the Government and  (b) the Standards Board have to revise the (i) Code of Conduct and (ii) other guidance to councillors on standards following the success in the High Court of the appeal by the Mayor of London against the decision of the Adjudication Panel of England.

Phil Woolas: We intend to consult on a draft revised Model Code of Conduct for local authority members shortly with the aim of implementing a revised Code this spring. The Standards Board will continue to publish associated guidance on aspects of the local conduct regime as necessary.
	Following the High Court case involving the Mayor of London, we have included provision in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill to allow the remit of the Code of Conduct to include the behaviour of members in their private as well as official capacity in so far as behaviour which a court has found to be unlawful.

Planning

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in what circumstances PPS3 may be a material consideration in planning applications prior to 1 April.

Yvette Cooper: Whether or not PPS3 is a material consideration will depend on the facts of each planning application, including the policies in the development plan for the area. In every case a planning authority has to make a judgment about whether PPS3 is material to its decision. On 1 April 2007 PPS3, including the requirement for local authorities to have a 5-year supply of deliverable sites for housing, will become fully operational.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Cultural Heritage: Grants

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much public money has been spent on heritage, excluding museums and galleries, in each year since 1997, broken down into grant-in-aid and lottery funding.

David Lammy: holding answer 5 February 2007
	The Government share a broad definition of the heritage with the Heritage Lottery Fund. In addition to the grant-in-aid funding to English Heritage, National Heritage Memorial Fund, and the Churches Conservation Trust, DCMS supports heritage through the Royal Parks Agency, Royal Palaces and Royal Household. DCMS also funds the 'Listed Places of Worship' scheme and a small grant to the Greenwich Foundation. The following figures do not include public money spent on heritage by local government and other Government Departments.
	
		
			  Heritage Lottery Fund and National Heritage Memorial Fund 
			  £ million 
			  Financial year  HLF awards for heritage, excluding museums and galleries  NHMF awards to heritage, excluding museums and galleries 
			 1997-98 212.82 0.29 
			 1998-99 219.84 0.0 
			 1999-2000 178.74 4.4 
			 2000-01 237.55 0.3 
			 2001-02 223.86 0.19 
			 2002-03 243.61 17.43 
			 2003-04 230.74 3.75 
			 2004-05 245.98 0.11 
			 2005-06 217.57 1.24 
		
	
	
		
			  National Heritage Memorial Fund grant in aid 
			  Financial year  £ million 
			 1997-98 5 
			 1998-99 5 
			 1999-2000 5 
			 2000-01 5 
			 2001-02 5 
			 2002-03 5 
			 2003-04 5 
			 2004-05 5 
			 2005-06 5 
		
	
	Breakdown of spend on heritage (excluding museums and galleries):
	
		
			  Grant in aid funding for English Heritage since 1997 
			  Financial year  £ million 
			 1997-98 105.18 
			 1998-99 102.40 
			 1999-2000 112.61 
			 2000-01 119.00 
			 2001-02 110.44 
			 2002-03 116.39 
			 2003-04 119.44 
			 2004-05 127.90 
			 2005-06 129.14 
			  Note: All figures have been rounded up to the nearest 100,000. 
		
	
	
		
			  DCMS support to places of worship and memorials 
			  £ million 
			  Financial year  Churches Conservation Trust  Listed Places of Worship scheme  Memorials Grant scheme 
			 1997-98 2.48 0.0 0.0 
			 1998-99 2.48 0.0 0.0 
			 1999-2000 2.48 0.0 0.0 
			 2000-01 2.83 0.0 0.0 
			 2001-02 3.0 1.2 0.0 
			 2002-03 3.0 8.35 0.0 
			 2003-04 3.0 7.2 0.0 
			 2004-05 3.0 10.5 0.0 
			 2005-06 3.0 15.0 0.02 
		
	
	
		
			  Royal Parks Agency 
			  £ million 
			  Financial year  Resource  Capital  Lottery and grants 
			 1997-98 23.2 1.0 0.0 
			 1998-99 24.6 0.4 0.2 
			 1999-00 29.8 0.3 0.2 
			 2000-01 26.1 1.2 0.1 
			 2001-02 24.3 (1)0.1 0.0 
			 2002-03 25.6 1.4 0.0 
			 2003-04 25.4 5.0 1.3 
			 2004-05 26.7 2.7 0.6 
			 2005-06 31.0 1.5 0.4 
			 2006-07(2) 19.5 0.5 0.8 
			 2007-08(2) 20.0 0.5 3.1 
			 (1)Excludes £18.6 million re exceptional item re permanent impairment of fixed assets (2 )Budgeted not actual 
		
	
	
		
			  Royal Household: amount of cash grant in aid 
			  £ million 
			  Financial year  Property services  Marlborough House 
			 1996-97 19.61 0.0 
			 1997-98 16.41 0.0 
			 1998-99 15.81 0.0 
			 1999-2000 15.13 0.47 
			 2000-01 15.0 0.58 
			 2001-02 15.5 0.59 
			 2002-03 15.4 0.59 
			 2003-04 15.3 0.59 
			 2004-05 15.20 0.59 
			 2005-06 15.1 0.59 
			 2006-07 15.0 0.59 
		
	
	
		
			  Historical Royal Palaces: grant in aid and HLF Funding since 1998-99 
			  £ million 
			  Financial year  Grant in aid  Tower Environment scheme  Kew Palace 
			 2001-02 0.0 0.28 0.0 
			 2002-03 0.0 0.11 0.0 
			 2003-04 6.6 3.85 0.0 
			 2004-05 0.0 0.78 0.0 
			 2005-06 0.0 0.61 0.36 
			 2006-07 to date 0.0 0.0 0.82 
			 Amounts shown are cash received in the accounting year

Departments: Complaints

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff worked in dedicated complaints units in her Department and its executive agencies in  (a) 1997-98,  (b) 2001-02 and  (c) 2005-06; and how many have done so in 2006-07 to date.

David Lammy: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and its agency the Royal Parks have had no staff working in dedicated complaints units in  (a) 1997-98,  (b) 2001-02,  (c) 2005-06 and  (d) 2006 to date.

Departments: Race Equality Duty

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department has taken to implement the Race Equality Duty since 2000.

David Lammy: Following the introduction of the race duties the Department produced a race equality scheme in 2002 which we updated in July 2006. In December 2006 the Department published a combined equality scheme covering race, disability and gender.
	Our equality scheme lays out in detail how we have implemented the Race Equality Duty. This includes information on how we:
	assess, and consult on, the likely impact proposed policies will have on promoting race equality;
	monitor policies for any adverse impact on promoting race equality;
	publish the results of assessments, consultation, and monitoring;
	make sure the public have access to information and services; and
	train staff to carry out the general duty and the specific duties.
	A copy of our combined equality scheme is available on the DCMS website at:
	www.culture.gov.uk.
	The Department has a specific PSA target for increasing the uptake of cultural and sporting opportunities by adults and young people aged 16 and above from priority groups, including those from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds. Our 'Taking Part' survey has provided robust baseline data for measuring our performance.
	The Department provides specific training for staff on diversity and equality impact assessment; promotes participation in schemes designed to support the development of those from black and ethnic minority backgrounds; and has an active staff diversity network and BME network.

Ofcom: Complaints

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many complaints were made to Ofcom on Big Brother by  (a) email,  (b) telephone and  (c) letter; and what the estimated cost was of dealing with these complaints.

Shaun Woodward: The matters raised are the responsibility of the Office of Communications as independent regulator. Accordingly, my officials have asked the chief executive of Ofcom to respond directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the chief executive's letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House in due course.

Olympic Games

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2007,  Official Report, column 104W, on Olympics 2012, if she will provide indicative figures for the amount set aside to cover  (a) CLM's fee,  (b) site mobilisation and  (c) the cost of additional staff.

Tessa Jowell: holding answer 2 February 2007
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 5 February 2007,  Official Report, column 713W.

Olympic Games: Greater London

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the Greater London Assembly on the Olympic levy.

Tessa Jowell: I have had no discussions with the Greater London Assembly about the contribution to the public sector funding package for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games funded by the London council tax precept. However, I have had a number of discussions with the Mayor of London, who is a member of the Olympic Board, which have included references to the budget of the 2012 Games.

Text Messages

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received on the use of unsolicited mobile telephone text messages for which people are charged; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Hodge: I have been asked to reply.
	The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has received no representations relating to unsolicited mobile telephone text messages. However, the Department of Trade and Industry does receive occasional written correspondence on this issue. It is the Government's aim to have controls that safeguard the consumer but do not hamper the development of the telecommunications market.
	Unsolicited text (SMS) messages are illegal under statutory controls that were introduced as part of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. Enforcement is undertaken by the Information Commissioner whose office is a wholly independent body, answerable to Parliament directly rather than to Ministers. The Office will investigate complaints and take formal action against those who have wilfully or negligently continued to breach the regulations.
	Industry safeguards require that consumers must be clearly informed by text about what they have subscribed to, the cost, and how to stop the service (a consumer must be able to switch off the service with the universal 'stop' command). All the UK mobile operators have signed up to these safeguards and require content providers using their networks to comply with them. If they do not comply, then the networks will suspend the provider's service for breaching the safeguards thereby blocking the service.
	The body that governs premium rate services is the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS). ICSTIS can investigate and fine companies, barring access to services where there is found to be a breach of the regulations. ICSTIS can be contacted at ICSTIS, Freepost WC 5468, London SE1 2BR www.icstis.org.uk. Telephone: 0800 500 212 (free call; office hours).

UK Film Council

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what total Government spending was on the UK Film Council in the latest period for which figures are available.

Shaun Woodward: Since the establishment of the UK Film Council in 2000, it has received grant in aid funding as set out in the following table.
	
		
			   £ million 
			 1999-2000 0.552 
			 2000-01 (1)21.76 
			 2001-02 20.86 
			 2002-03 24.11 
			 2003-04 24.11 
			 2004-05 (2)24.91 
			 2005-06 (3)24.11 
			 2006-07 (4)26.61 
			 2007-08(5) (5)25.110 
			 Total(6) 167 
			 (1) Includes modernisation award for the BFI (2) £24.11 million core + £0.8 million modernisation award for BFI (3) £24.11 million core + £1 million modernisation award for BFI— £1 million of core deferred to 2006-07 (4) £24.11 million core + £1.5 million for BFI capital funding + £1 million deferred from 2005-06 (5) Predicted. £24.11 million core + £1 million for BFI capital funding (6) To end 2006-07  Note: The increase in grant in aid from 2001-02 to 2002-03 reflects a transfer of funding from Arts Council England to UK Film Council to cover regional activity and followed a transfer of responsibility.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Freedom of Information

David Laws: To ask the Leader of the House whether  (a) he and  (b) officials from his office have been consulted by hon. Members on the drafting of the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill.

Jack Straw: My office was not involved in the drafting of the Bill. However, I and my officials have discussed the Bill and its progress with the right. hon. Member for Penrith and the Border (David Maclean) on a number of occasions.

Members: Allowances

Norman Baker: To ask the Leader of the House how many hon. Members claimed over £10,000 in motor mileage allowance in the last year for which figures are available; what the total amount claimed by all hon. Members was in that year; and at what rate the allowance was calculated in each of the last five years.

Jack Straw: In 2005-06 two Members claimed over £10,000 in motor mileage. Including Members who left at the last election, £1.95 million was claimed in motor mileage for 2005-06. The allowance was calculated as follows in each of the last five years.
	
		
			  Pence per mile 
			   Up to 20,000 miles per year  Over 20,000 miles per year 
			 2001-02 53.7 24.8 
			 2002-03 54.4 25.1 
			 2003-04 56.1 25.9 
			 2004-05 57.7 26.6 
			
			  Up 10,000 miles per year over 10,000 miles per year 
			 2005-06 40 25 
		
	
	Since 2004-05 there has also been a motor cycle mileage rate of 24p per mile.

TRANSPORT

British Transport Police

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 17 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1148W, on the British Transport Police, whether the Department collected this information in the past; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Harris: The Department has never itself collected this information.

Bus Services: Concessions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many pensioners in Coventry are eligible for the free local bus travel scheme.

Gillian Merron: The number of residents of Coventry aged 60 and over who, from 1 April 2006, are entitled to free off-peak local bus travel is 59,700. In the parliamentary constituency of Coventry South, around 20,000 people are eligible. Coventry residents may use their concession throughout the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive area.

Departments: Furniture

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many items of furniture were  (a) lost and  (b) stolen from his Department in each year since 1997; and what the value was of those items in each year.

Gillian Merron: The Department was formed in 2002 and since then no items of furniture have been lost or stolen. This excludes the Department's main headquarter sites in London and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, where this information is not centrally recorded and could be made available only at disproportionate costs.

Driving Offences

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road accidents involving death or injury have involved drivers who have no tax or insurance in each of the last five years.

Stephen Ladyman: Statistics on personal injury road accidents reported to the police and submitted to the Department do not contain information on drivers who had no tax or insurance.

EU Vehicle Registration

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of vehicles registered in states that joined the EU in the last five years which are in the United Kingdom.

Stephen Ladyman: This information is not held by the Department.

Exhaust Emissions: EC Action

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential impact on the UK automotive industry of the proposed EU targets on  (a) fuel efficiency and  (b) carbon dioxide emissions.

Stephen Ladyman: Work done for the UK Energy Review last year suggested that a replacement to the current voluntary agreements on new car fuel efficiency might have a cost to society of £184 per tonne of carbon. On the other hand, using cost data developed by consultants for the European Commission, suggests much lower costs or even net benefits.
	The impacts of such an instrument are highly dependent on the level of the target and how the target is implemented. The Government will be carrying out further work to assess the impacts, both on society and on the automotive industry, of different options to replace the current voluntary agreements.

Exhaust Emissions: EC Action

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential environmental impact of the proposed EU targets for  (a) fuel efficiency and  (b) carbon dioxide emissions of cars.

Stephen Ladyman: Work done for the UK Energy Review last year suggested that a replacement to the current voluntary agreements on new car fuel efficiency could save nearly two million tonnes of carbon per year in the UK in 2020.
	The carbon savings delivered by such an instrument are highly dependent on the level of the target. The Government will update the Energy Review analysis in the light of recent data, and the European Commission communication on reducing CO2 emissions from cars. In carrying out this update the Government will consult a range of stakeholders.

Galileo Contract

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport who the EU public private partnership concessionaire is of the Galileo operational phase; how much the contract is worth; who has final operational control of the satellites in time of war; where the key equipment is based; which judiciary has jurisdiction; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: Galileo is a European Union programme and the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) is the EU agency that will regulate and manage the programme on behalf of the EU. The GSA is currently in negotiations with a consortium bidding for the Galileo public private partnership (PPP) contract. It is made up of Aena, Alcatel, EADS, Finmeccanica, Hispasat, Inmarsat, TeleOp and Thales. No decisions have yet been taken on which legal regime will govern the concession contract or which courts will have jurisdiction.
	Vice-President Barrot recently stated that the overall financial exposure for the public side over the 20-year period of the contract would be around €8 billion. The final cost will not be known until the contract is ready for signature. The public private partnership (PPP) will have a public funding ratio of roughly one-third; the remainder to be provided by a private sector concessionaire.
	Galileo will not be fully operational until 2011-12. The Council has repeatedly confirmed that it is a civil programme under civil control. The operation of any navigation aid, such as Galileo, can nevertheless have security implications for member states. The UK, along with other member states, therefore sought to ensure that any aspects of the operation of Galileo which affect member states' security can be referred to the Council structures, which will take the necessary decisions by unanimity. The GSA will have operational responsibility for Galileo safety and security matters, although final operational control arrangements within the framework of the GSA have yet to be decided.
	The GSA is temporarily based in Brussels. 11 member states, of which the UK is one, have bid to host its permanent offices. The deployment of the programme's key equipment is dependent on the outcome of negotiations with the consortium as well as the discussions between the consortium members themselves. It is expected that the HQ of the PPP company will be located in France; the operations company would be in London; Germany and Italy will host the satellite control centres, and an additional safety of life centre and a back-up control centre would be in Spain.

Motor Vehicles: Standards

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents were attributed to faults in vehicles sufficient to fail an MOT test in each of the last five years.

Stephen Ladyman: Information on how many accidents were attributed to faults in vehicles sufficient to fail an MOT test is not available. From 2005 information has been collected on contributory factors to reported personal injury road accidents, including vehicle defects. In 2005 2,289 personal injury road accidents reported at the scene by a police officer involved a motorised vehicle that had "vehicle defects" as a contributory factor. The contributory factors reflect the reporting officer's opinion at the time of reporting and are not necessarily the result of extensive investigation. Moreover it is recognised that subsequent inquires could lead to the reporting officer changing his opinion.

Motor Vehicles: Testing

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost of running the MOT system was in each of the last five years.

Stephen Ladyman: The MOT computer system went live in April 2005. No payments were made in respect of the service prior to this date. During the year 2005-06 payments totalled £30.02 million and the forecast for 2006-07 is £29.9 million.

Motor Vehicles: Testing

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost of the MOT was in each year since 1997.

Stephen Ladyman: Testing stations can charge any fee for an MOT test up to a set maximum. The maximum price that testing stations could charge for an MOT for a car during this period is given in the table as follows:
	
		
			   Effective date  £ 
			 1997 1 August 1997 29.42 
			 1998 1 August 1998 30.87 
			 1999 1 September 1999 32.11 
			 2000 1 October 2000 34.00 
			 2001 1 November 2001 37.60 
			 2002 1 August 2002 39.25 
			 2003 1 August 2003 40.75 
			 2004 1 August 2004 42.10 
			 2005 1 August 2005 44.15 
			 2006 7 November 2006 50.35 
		
	
	The maximum charge is set after an evaluation of the time taken to conduct an MOT test.

Motor Vehicles: Testing

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the contribution to road safety of the present MOT system; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: It is very difficult to quantify the contribution of the MOT test to road safety since it is the combination of a wide range of road safety policies that gives the UK its excellent road safety record. MOT testing is part of that overall strategy, and the test detects around 8 million defective vehicles every year.
	We will be consulting in the spring on options for the future conduct of the MOT scheme—specifically the frequency of testing—following a recommendation that we do so in the Davidson Review of the implementation of EU legislation. This consultation will include a fuller discussion of the merits of the MOT testing scheme.

Motor Vehicles: Testing

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average time taken by an MOT tester was to carry out an MOT in the latest period for which figures are available.

Stephen Ladyman: Average times for carrying out MOT tests were last checked in a comprehensive study in 2006. The observed average total time for carrying out an MOT test on a car was 58.37 minutes.

Motor Vehicles: Testing

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many MOT testing stations there are in  (a) England,  (b) Wales and  (c) Scotland.

Stephen Ladyman: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency records show that on 8 February 2007 there were:
	15,723 garages in England;
	1,194 in Wales; and
	1,727 in Scotland offering MOT tests.
	18,644 in total.

Motor Vehicles: Testing

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the road safety consequences of changing the frequency of the MOT test; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: It is very difficult to quantify the contribution of the MOT test to road safety since it is the combination of a wide range of road safety policies that helps to lead to a lower number of road casualties than would otherwise be likely to occur. In turn, it is not a straightforward matter to assess what might be the road safety implications of changing the frequency of testing.
	We will be consulting in the spring on options for the future conduct of the MOT scheme—specifically the frequency of testing—following a recommendation that we do so in the Davidson Review of the implementation of EU legislation. This consultation will include a fuller discussion of the potential advantages and disadvantages of making any change to test frequency.

Motor Vehicles: Testing

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether it is his policy that the MOT test should principally assess levels of wear on a vehicle rather than its reliability.

Stephen Ladyman: The items to be tested in an MOT test are set by Directive 96/96/EC. The principal purpose of the test is to ensure that a vehicle meets at least minimum prescribed standards related to road safety and environmental performance.
	In general, this means checking to ensure that components which are liable to wear have not deteriorated to a level below these minimum standards, and that a vehicle is otherwise not in such a condition that its use on the road would represent a danger either to the driver or to any other person. The test is also designed to ensure that a vehicle meets minimum standard levels so as not to cause avoidable damage to the environment.

Tolls: Greater Manchester

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received on the introduction of a road charging scheme in Manchester; and if he will make statement.

Stephen Ladyman: holding answer 19 February 2007
	Greater Manchester are one of 10 areas to be awarded pump-priming funding to support the development of transport innovation fund packages that address local congestion problems by combining demand management, including road pricing, with better public transport.
	In this context, Ministers have met representatives of Greater Manchester authorities and departmental officials have regular ongoing contact.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Advertising

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1793W, on advertising, how much of the spending on advertising was spent on  (a) sponsoring supplements and  (b) advertorials; and what the topic of each (i) advertorial and (ii) supplement was.

Barry Gardiner: None of the expenditure referred to in the answer of 24 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1793W, is recorded as being on supplements or advertorials.

Agriculture: Chorley

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how many farmers in Chorley constituency have not received any single farm payment for  (a) 2005 and  (b) 2006;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the total cost of the interest to be paid to farmers in Chorley constituency as a result of late payment of single farm payments for the period of 2005 to 2007.

Barry Gardiner: Detailed analysis of all the payments made under the 2005 single payment scheme is not yet available. Once the remaining 2005 scheme payments have been completed, a decision will be taken on the level of detail that will be published.

Agriculture: Chorley

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the European Commission on subsidies paid by the Government to British milk producers.

Barry Gardiner: Milk producers do not receive any direct EU subsidies. The dairy premium, paid to partially compensate dairy farmers for the expected fall in farmgate prices as a result of the 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, was uplifted into the decoupled single farm payment in 2005.

Agriculture: Sewage

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he expects the regulations to give effect in UK law to the EU Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations to be enacted by the end of April.

Ian Pearson: The Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations came into force in 1989. We have consulted on proposed revisions and are currently considering views from stakeholders before deciding on how best to proceed. The European Commission is also considering plans to issue proposals to revise the Sewage Sludge Directive which could impact on any future regulatory needs.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many outstanding single farm payments were due to farmers in  (a) England,  (b) the North West and  (c) Chorley constituency in each month since January 2005.

Barry Gardiner: From the end of March 2006 onwards the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) published regular updates of the number of customers and the amounts of subsidy that had been paid under the 2005 single payments scheme. The information in the following table is taken from these updates. The total number of applications was about 120,000 but the number of eligible claims varies as claims are checked so it is not possible to give a definitive number for outstanding claims.
	
		
			  Payments under the single payments scheme 2005 (England) by the Rural Payments Agency 
			  As at 2006:  Number of customers paid in full or part  Amount paid (£ million) 
			 5 April 35,955 277 
			 3 May 56,291 515 
			 7 June 95,978 1,331 
			 5 July 107,888 1,438 
			 2 August 110,579 1,458 
			 13 September 112,390 1,493 
			 11 October 113,461 1,504 
			 8 November 115,155 1,518 
			 6 December 115,570 1,519 
		
	
	On 6 December, the RPA estimated that 99.22 per cent. of customers had been paid in full or part. 911 claimants were awaiting full payments. A further 2,184 claimants were waiting for a top up of a previous partial payment.
	At the end of January 2007, the RPA estimated that there were 194 single payment scheme claimants that had not received any payment. Seventy of these cases were pending the resolution of issues such as probate. The remainder were potentially eligible to be paid and were being processed.
	Detailed analysis of the payments made under the 2005 single payment scheme is not yet available. Once the remaining 2005 scheme payments have been completed, a decision will be taken on the level of detail that will be published.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many representations he has received from individuals in Chorley constituency on incorrect farm payments in the last 12 months.

Barry Gardiner: Detailed analysis by constituency or category of representations made under the 2005 single payment scheme (SPS) is not available.
	The Rural Payments Agency received overall 171 SPS representations and 467 SPS appeals in 2006.

Avian Influenza

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the risk of  (a) poultry imports,  (b) egg imports and  (c) other relevant imports in spreading the H5N1 virus; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: The epidemiological investigation into the source of the infection in Suffolk is still ongoing. We will review our risk assessments once more information on the virus is available.
	Qualitative risk assessments (QRAs) are produced regularly by the International Animal Health Division (IAHD) on the risks associated with the importation of poultry, hatching eggs, poultry products and shell egg including other possible pathways since the outbreak of H5N1 in Asia in 2004. In addition, the risks associated with wild birds have also been addressed. The latest QRA was an update of 'The HPAI H5N1 situation in Europe and potential risk factors for the introduction of the virus to the United Kingdom'.
	Test results have revealed that the strain of the virus found in the turkeys in Suffolk is a 99.96 per cent. match to the strain found in Hungary. In addition, information from the laboratories has revealed that the transmission of the virus is most likely to be poultry to poultry. This makes transmission direct from Hungary more likely, rather than from wild birds.
	We are continuing to investigate all pathways for transmission including the movement of poultry, poultry products and vehicles between Suffolk and Hungary. However, it should be recognised that we may never be able to establish exactly how the virus arrived in Suffolk and infected the turkeys.

British Food

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of food served in buildings occupied by his Department was of British origin in  (a) 2005 and  (b) 2006.

Barry Gardiner: From information held centrally, the proportion of food of British origin served in buildings occupied by the Department in  (a) 2005 and  (b) 2006 was as follows:
	
		
			  Category/product  Range (Percentage) 
			   2005  2006  
			 Dairy 90-100 90-100 Eggs, milk products 100 per cent. 
			Cheeses 93 per cent 
			 
			 Vegetables
			 Root 80-100 80-100  
			 Salad 50-80 50-80  
			 Fruit 25-40 26-40  
			 
			 Fish 85 80  
			 
			 Bakery
			 Bread and rolls 100 100  
			 
			 Meat
			 Chicken 80 85  
			 Beef 70 60 Mince 100 per cent. 
			 Lamb 15 60  
			 Bacon 25 25  
			 Pork 90 90

Carbon Dioxide: Air Pollution

Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what method of calculation his Department uses to relate its 60 per cent. cut in UK carbon emissions target by 2050 to its aim to contain a temperature rise to two degrees Celsius.

Ian Pearson: holding answer 8 February 2007
	There is no simple relationship between the EU's long-term stabilisation goal and the pathways required to get there. The EU has noted that to avoid temperatures rising higher than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, global greenhouse gas emissions need to fall by between 15 and 50 per cent. with reductions in developed countries of between 60 and 80 per cent. The UK's target of a 60 per cent. reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is consistent with this approach. However, we recognise that we will need to keep this goal under review in the light of emerging scientific evidence and other developments.

Dairy Farming

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had on the dairy industry; and with what groups such discussions were held.

Barry Gardiner: Issues affecting the dairy industry are discussed regularly by Ministers and officials. Some of these meetings are specifically about dairy issues, for example the Dairy Supply Chain Forum, which last met on 6 February.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State recently attended a meeting of the board of Dairy UK, and my noble Friend the Lord Rooker recently met representatives from First Milk. Dairy issues are also raised during more general meetings, for example with farming representatives or retailers.

Dairy Farming

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department's plans are for the next five years to provide help to the dairy industry.

Barry Gardiner: Most of the challenges facing the dairy industry are for the industry itself to address. There are positive signs that some of these challenges are being addressed through increased efficiency, increased innovation, the introduction of new branded products and structural changes.
	DEFRA will continue to facilitate the Dairy Supply Chain Forum, which provides a framework for constructive debate, gives leadership to the sector and helps improve the evidence base. Through the Dairy Supply Chain Forum, DEFRA will work in partnership with the industry to reduce the environmental impact of dairy production and consumption. A Dairy Supply Chain Forum taskforce will also be set up to consider further reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Dairy Products: Exports

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to promote exports of UK dairy products.

Barry Gardiner: "Food from Britain" is the market development consultancy for British food and drink, funded by the Government and industry. It does a considerable amount of work to maximise exports of food and drink produced or processed in the UK, including dairy products. There are also opportunities for individual companies to explore.

Departmental Property

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2007,  Official Report, column 271W, on departmental property, if his Department will discuss with Guildford borough council placing tree protection orders on the trees on the Guildford site where the trees border Merrow Downs, nearby homes and the allotments.

Barry Gardiner: The Department's Estates Department confirms that it is [already] in discussion with Guildford borough council in respect of the trees on the Guildford site.
	The Department is liaising with the officers in order to safeguard the local environment in line with good practice.

Departmental Property

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2007,  Official Report, column 271W, on departmental property, what  (a) environmental and  (b) biodiversity considerations are taken into account when his Department disposes of surplus land and buildings.

Barry Gardiner: DEFRA undertakes the disposal of surplus land and buildings in accordance with the Treasury and OGC guidance referred to in my answer of 8 January 2007.
	A range of site-specific issues are addressed including environmental and bio-diversity matters and are considered in discussion with the local planning department at Guildford borough council, in accordance with local, regional, national and European policies.

Departments: EC Law

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many EU regulations were gold-plated by his Department in each year since 2001.

Barry Gardiner: The Davidson Review reported on the implementation of EU legislation in the UK in November 2006. It concluded, following a public call for evidence, that over-implementation (including gold-plating) of EU legislation may not be as widespread as is sometimes claimed. The review did investigate three DEFRA areas—waste, fisheries legislation and the herd register for bovine animals—where concerns had been raised of potential over-implementation. The review made specific simplification recommendations for DEFRA in these areas which are being delivered through our simplification plan.
	The review also made best practice recommendations for the implementation of European legislation which the Government have accepted in full. Some reflected DEFRA's focus on risk-based policy making; its use of programme and project management in negotiating and implementing EU legislation; and its engagement in European legal networks such as the network of environmental lawyers—"NEEL"—set up by DEFRA during the UK Presidency.

Departments: Equal Opportunities

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department  (a) has taken and  (b) plans to take to ensure that it and related bodies are in compliance with the gender equality duty in the Equality Act 2006 by the April 2007 deadline.

Barry Gardiner: The Department has developed a joint equality scheme to address the requirements of equalities legislation. This scheme currently addresses the requirements of both disability and race legislation. The Department is currently working on incorporating the new gender equality duties into its joint equality scheme for publication by 30 April 2007.
	The scheme covers core-DEFRA and those of its Executive Agencies who have elected to be included. Other Executive Agencies and non departmental public bodies (NDPBs) subject to the duty to produce an equality scheme are developing their own independent Schemes. NDPB's are set up by statute and are independent of the Department. Although DEFRA provides guidance and advice on equality legislation it does not hold direct responsibility for them in meeting the requirements of the forthcoming duty.
	In addressing the forthcoming gender equality duties, DEFRA will continue to place a requirement upon all its business areas to carry out equality impact assessments on it's policies, processes and services. Where gender impacts are identified through the initial screening process, a full assessment will then be undertaken.
	DEFRA already has established policies to address unlawful discrimination, bullying and harassment within the Department together with an equal opportunities policy that covers actions to promote equality between men and women.

Departments: Freedom of Information

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on how many occasions special advisers have been consulted in replying to freedom of information requests to his Department; and what his Department's policy is on the role of special advisers in the answering of freedom of information requests.

Barry Gardiner: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs does not keep such records. Special advisers carry out their duties in accordance with the requirements of the code of conduct for special advisers.

Floods: Hartlepool

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the contribution of the Heugh Breakwater to coastal sea defences for Hartlepool and the North sea coast.

Ian Pearson: DEFRA has overall policy responsibility for flood and coastal erosion risk management in England, funds most of the Environment Agency's flood-related work and grant aids individual capital improvement projects undertaken by local authorities and internal drainage boards. The programme to manage risk is driven by these operating authorities within the framework of desired outcomes for the programme set by DEFRA. This Department does not carry out works directly, or direct the authorities on which specific individual projects to undertake.
	DEFRA is grant aiding two studies to assess coastal risks to the Hartlepool area:
	(a) a review of the shoreline management plan from the Tyne to Flamborough Head which includes Hartlepool and is being led by Scarborough borough council
	(b) a more detailed strategy study by Hartlepool borough council which is considering the importance and condition of the Heugh Breakwater.
	I understand both studies will include local consultation and that they are scheduled to report in 2007-08.

Inland Waterways

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many times  (a) he and  (b) other Ministers in his Department have visited inland waterways since their appointment.

Barry Gardiner: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 10 January 2007,  Official Report, column 593W.
	I have also attended the meetings in the following table.
	
		
			  Location /Event  Date  Location  Topic 
			 Staffs and Worcester Canal 5 September 2006 Penkridge Wharf BW operations and contribution to rural regeneration 
			 Norfolk Broads 3 October 2006 Norfolk Fact finding visit.

Internet

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact on environmental awareness and activity of the proposed closure of the Climate Challenge website; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what factors he took into account when deciding to close the Sustainable Development Commission's website under the Transformational Government strategy; what plans he has for the future internet presence of the Commission's services; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  how many monthly users there were of the websites for  (a) the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution,  (b) Climate Challenge,  (c) the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management,  (d) the Sustainable Development Commission,  (e) the Drinking Water Inspectorate,  (f) Sustainable Development,  (g) Waste Matters,  (h) Netregs, (i) Tomorrow's England (climatechangeandme.net), (j) the National Non-Food Crops centre (nnfcc.co.uk), (k) the English Food and Farming Partnership (effp.org.uk) and (l) the Waste and Resources Action Programme (wrap.org.uk) in the last month for which figures are available; whether these figures were taken account of in the decision to close of sites under the Transformational Government Strategy; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  which of the services provided by the websites for  (a) the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution,  (b) Climate Challenge,  (c) the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management,  (d) the Sustainable Development Commission,  (e) the Drinking Water Inspectorate,  (f) Sustainable Development,  (g) Waste Matters,  (h) Netregs and (i) Tomorrow's England which have been identified for closure under the Transformational Government strategy will (i) continue to be provided through alternative websites and (ii) be suspended; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: DEFRA fully supports the Transformational Government strategy and is taking a leading role in working with the Cabinet Office to deliver website rationalisation. DEFRA is taking a pragmatic approach to this complex process and has already begun to plan its delivery. The initial phase will review content and services of almost 50 websites for convergence on Directgov and Business Link, as outlined in the Transformational Government implementation plan.
	DEFRA will be working closely with website stakeholders, including those of the Sustainable Development Commission, to ensure that online resources are delivered in the most appropriate manner in line with the principles of Transformational Government.
	The aim is to retain and strengthen the availability and accessibility of the information and services which customers need via a smaller number of high quality websites, including Directgov and Business Link. We anticipate that the number of people benefiting from these services will increase as they become easier to find and use; we will not be closing any sites precipitously.
	In the case of Climate Challenge, we believe that by making more use of sites like Directgov, which served almost 900,000 unique visitors in the week commencing 22 January, more people will visit and engage with the "Tomorrow's Climate, Today's Challenge" initiative.
	DEFRA is in ongoing discussions with the Cabinet Office regarding the status of the sites listed and whether the Department has responsibilities for them in this context.
	The numbers of unique monthly users for the websites listed are provided in the following table:
	
		
			   Unique visitors  Month for which stats available 
			 Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (1)— (1)— 
			 Climate Challenge 6,383 December 2006 
			 Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (1)— (1)— 
			 Drinking Water Inspectorate 17,487 December 2006 
			 English Farming and Food Partnership (2)— (2)— 
			 National Non-Food Crops Centre (2)— (2)— 
			 Sustainable Development Commission 15,594 January 2007 
			 Sustainable Development 19,813 December 2006 
			 Tomorrow's England (climatechangeandme.net) (2)— (2)— 
			 Waste Matters (1)— (1)— 
			 NetRegs (1)— (1)— 
			 Waste and Resources Action Programme 31,951 June 2006 
			 (1) Not available (2) Private company, not a Government website

Pet Travel Scheme

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what representations he has made to the EU review of the movement of pet animals; and what steps he has taken to ensure that there will be no diminutions in the provisions of the UK pet travel scheme;
	(2)  if he will make an assessment of the current risk facing the UK from rabies.

Ben Bradshaw: DEFRA is currently carrying out a review of rabies import policy to ensure that UK controls on all rabies-susceptible mammals are proportionate and sustainable. This will help to inform the UK's response to the European Commission's review of certain requirements of EU Regulation 998/2003 on the non-commercial movement of pet animals.
	Regulation 998/2003 requires the European Commission to submit a report to the European Parliament and Council, based on experience gained and risk evaluation. The report must be submitted, together with proposals for the future rabies regime for pets, by February 2007. The UK has already submitted scientific and field information to assist this process.
	The UK's own review of national rabies import controls is nearing completion. The evidence received so far from Government vets, officials and veterinary risk assessments indicates that our current controls may no longer be proportionate to the risk of rabies entering the UK and we may need to consider modernising processes and regulation in this area. Our controls must also be consistent with current thinking on better regulation. I am seeking further views before reaching conclusions.

Rabies

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Government's policy is on the use of vaccinations to contain rabies.

Ben Bradshaw: In order to move freely around the European Community, and into the Community from certain other countries, pet dogs, cats and ferrets must be prepared in accordance with the requirements of EU Regulation 998/2003 on the non-commercial movement of pet animals. One of the requirements is for the animal to be vaccinated against rabies with a vaccine authorised for use in the qualifying country of use and administered in accordance with the vaccine manufacturer's data sheet recommendations. Booster vaccinations must be given within the time interval specified in the vaccine manufacturer's data sheet in order for the animal to retain its eligible status to travel.

Retail Trade: Energy

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Trade and Industry on encouraging the retail industry to reduce energy use.

Ian Pearson: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly meets the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to discuss a range of issues, including encouraging energy efficiency, where DTI and DEFRA both have a key role to play in their successful delivery.

Retail Trade: Energy

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to encourage retail outlets to reduce energy use, particularly on lighting outside opening hours.

Ian Pearson: The Department funds the Carbon Trust, a not-for-profit company that works closely with business to encourage sustainable use of energy, establish energy efficient practices and systems, and develop low carbon technologies.
	The Carbon Trust's products and services for the retail sector include helpline and web advice, an interest-free loan scheme for small and medium-sized enterprises to purchase energy-efficient equipment, site surveys for companies with energy bills over £50,000 a year, and a strategic carbon management programme for large, multi-site companies. DEFRA's enhanced capital allowance scheme lists 68 lighting technologies for which businesses can claim 100 per cent. capital allowance in the year in which the investment is made.
	The Carbon Trust also holds free lighting workshops, and produces a number of publications specifically focused on lighting in the retail sector. These include the 'Retail Sector Overview', which contains advice on reducing lighting outside opening hours, such as through use of occupancy sensors, low energy bulbs, light switch labelling and a 'switch off' policy.

Tyndall Centre

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies have provided to the Tyndall Centre for research projects in each of the last five years.

Ian Pearson: Funding provided by DEFRA to the Tyndall Centre to carry out research projects from 2001-02 to 2005-06 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Financial year April-March  Project  Amount (£) 
			 2001-02 GA01001 2001 Climate change scenarios for UKCIP 56,665 
			 2002-03 GA01001 2001 Climate change scenarios for UKCIP 64,771 
			 2003-04 GA01068 Scoping Study for a Research Programme on Stabilisation 17,940 
			 2004-05 GA01077 Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation: Cross Regional Research Programme—Linking Adaptation Research and Practice 51,616 
			  GA01068 Scoping Study for a Research Programme on Stabilisation 35,190 
			 2005-06 None — 
		
	
	Information is not held centrally on funding provided by DEFRA's executive agencies to the Tyndall Centre for research projects. This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Waste Disposal: Fees and Charges

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research  (a) his Department,  (b) its executive agencies and  (c) non-departmental public bodies which it sponsors have (i) carried out and (ii) commissioned into variable waste charging.

Ben Bradshaw: DEFRA has commissioned an independent research project examining the international evidence on variable charging for household waste and the potential impact of such schemes in England.
	England's waste strategy is also currently being reviewed. In this context, DEFRA is considering the full range of tools that could encourage producers and consumers to change their behaviour regarding waste and recycling in general. The use of financial incentives, such as recycling rebates, is only one of a number of options being considered and any decisions would be made in light of the results of Sir Michael Lyons' inquiry into local government.
	Getting people to change their behaviour is a challenge, and recycling is no exception. While there are millions of dedicated recyclers, there are still too many families and people who are not engaging with local waste reduction, recycling and composting schemes.
	Those in favour of financial incentives argue that they would reduce waste and increase recycling rates, which would help tackle climate change (by diverting waste from landfill) as well as reducing the costs of managing waste.
	By minimising waste and recycling or home composting as much as possible, householders can help to keep down waste costs and, therefore, help reduce pressures on council tax bills.

Water Charges

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment  (a) his Department and  (b) Ofwat are made of the merits of reviewing the rateable values used to assess water rates for domestic properties.

Ian Pearson: Although rateable values provide a reasonable basis for charging in many cases, it is not an infallible system and anomalies can arise.
	The Government commissioned and published research into alternative methods of unmeasured charging, including the use of council tax bands, as part of a review of water charging in 1998-99. This showed that switching to alternative water charging systems would be beneficial for some, but not the majority of customers. Many of those least able to afford it—notably those with the lowest rateable value properties—would be adversely affected if they were charged on this basis. DEFRA officials are currently working with water companies and Ofwat to update this research.
	It is essential that any proposals for new charging arrangements provide adequate transitional arrangements to protect such customers. Despite wide consultation and investigation, no wholly satisfactory new schemes have been proposed to date. Water charges relating to council tax bands have not been proposed or implemented for these reasons.
	Water companies are free to bring forward proposals for alternative unmeasured charging arrangements for Ofwat, the water industry's economic regulator, to consider. Ofwat would have to consult the Secretary of State before approving the widespread introduction of new unmetered charging arrangements.
	Ofwat allows companies to apply a notional rateable value or an assessed charge where properties have been merged or substantially altered, and this has invalidated the original rateable value of the property. Further details on assessed charges are set out in Ofwat's report 'Water and sewerage charges 2006-07'.

TREASURY

Bank Services

Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what reports his Department has commissioned into dormant bank accounts; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Balls: As announced initially in PBR 2005, the Government and banking industry have committed to an unclaimed assets scheme that allows genuinely unclaimed assets to be reinvested in the community, with funds to be invested with a specific focus on programmes for young people, financial education and financial exclusion. In addition, the Government are examining the proposals of the independent Commission on Unclaimed Assets. The Treasury has not commissioned any reports into dormant bank accounts.
	As set out in the PBR, the Government believe that legislation is required to allow the banking industry to set up a scheme. The Government will consult widely on proposals.

Banks: Closures

Peter Bone: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring forward proposals requiring shared bank branchings in local communities.

Edward Balls: Decisions regarding their bank networks are commercial decisions for the banks. The Government will continue to monitor the situation as regards to access to banking services.

Census: Freedom of Information

Mike Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what arrangements the Office for National Statistics plans to bring into operation to deal with the disapplication of exemptions 41 and 44 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in respect of census records for  (a) 1921,  (b) 1951 and  (c) 1961; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: Exemptions 41 and 44 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are not disapplied in relation to census records from the 1921, 1951 and 1961 censuses.
	The information commissioner's recent decision to overrule the use by the National Archives of the exemption in section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for certain information on a 1911 census form was limited to the circumstances of the particular case before the information commissioner. The decision notice itself makes it clear that this ruling is not applicable to other personal census information. Exemptions 41 and 44 are relevant to census information collected since 1920.
	The Statistics and Registration Services Bill, currently before Parliament, contains proposals relating to the confidentiality and the use of FOI exemptions with regard to personal information, including any personal census information, held by the relevant authority for the census in England and Wales.
	Census records will be transferred to the National Archives in time for release after 100 years, in accordance with the obligations of the Public Records Act 1958 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Child Benefit: Fraud

Jeremy Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many child benefit claims were found to be fraudulent in the last year for which records are available.

Dawn Primarolo: Information on how many child benefit claims were made fraudulently is not available. However, I refer the hon. Member to the answer on 25 July 2006 to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws),  Official Report, column 1344W.

Council Tax

Eric Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 28 November 2006,  Official Report, column 529W, on council tax, what steps  (a) his Department,  (b) HM Revenue and Customs and  (c) the Valuation Office Agency are taking to facilitate data-sharing with local authorities on issues relating to taxation and valuation for taxation purposes.

Dawn Primarolo: The Chief Executive of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) wrote to his counterparts in each billing authority on 18 July 2006, seeking their support for the implementation of a number of partnership working initiatives, including data sharing, aimed at improving the service provided by the VOA to each local authority and in turn by them to their ratepayers and council taxpayers. A copy of the letter is held in the Library of the House of Commons.
	The Government's Information Sharing Vision Statement published on 13 September 2006 sets out the Government's vision for better, more customer-focused services supported by greater information sharing which will protect and support individuals and society as a whole. In the recent Local Government White Paper, 'Strong and Prosperous Communities', it was identified that effective cross-agency working needs to be supported by effective data sharing between local partners.

Departments: Electronic Government

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of cost savings resulting from services supplied by SCC Technology to his Department and its agencies since 2005.

Dawn Primarolo: Savings on the SCC contract to date are £1.978 million. This does not include savings which are calculated at the end of the financial year, which are not available.

Departments: Meetings

David Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the dates of meetings involving the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Home Office Ministers since 21 July 2006.

Stephen Timms: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

HMRC: Flights

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent by HM Revenue and Customs on flights to  (a) Wales,  (b) Scotland and  (c) Northern Ireland in (i) 2005 and (ii) 2006.

Dawn Primarolo: holding answer 26 January 2007
	HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) was created on 18 April 2005, and incorporates the former departments of Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise.
	
		
			   £ 
			  April 2005 to December 2005  
			 Northern Ireland n/a 
			 Scotland n/a 
			 Wales n/a 
			   
			  January 2006 to December 2006  
			  Total spend on flights to:  
			 Northern Ireland 673,962 
			 Scotland 2,163,883 
			 Wales 106,195 
			 n/a = Not available.

Income Tax

David Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what receipts were paid to HM Revenue and Customs in respect of  (a) interest and  (b) penalties imposed on income tax payers in each of the last three financial years.

Dawn Primarolo: The information is as follows.
	 (a) Interest
	Interest figures are not available on a financial year basis. Internal HM Revenue and Customs validation exercises collect figures to an annual October date. The figures for 2003-04 and 2004-05 are set out as follows. Figures for 2005-06 have not yet been finalised.
	
		
			   £ 
			 To October 2004 152,871,668 
			 To October 2005 165,200,708 
		
	
	 (b) Penalties
	Figures for the last three years are:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2003-04 58,887,995 
			 2004-05 55,367,868 
			 2005-06 46,307,473

Income Tax: Tax Thresholds

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the income tax threshold for  (a) single and  (b) married couples would be if it had been increased in line with (a) the Consumer Price Index and (b) the Retail Price Index since 1997.

Dawn Primarolo: The answer is provided in the following table. Tax thresholds are the point at which income exceeds personal allowances. The additional tax relief that is available for older pensioner married or civil partner couples reduces the tax liability of the spouse or civil partner who claims it. The amount depends on the age of the older partner and income of the claimant.
	
		
			  £ 
			   Current 2006-07 thresholds  2006-07 thresholds if increased in line with CPI  2006-07 thresholds if increased in line with RPI 
			 Personal allowance under 65(1) 5,035 4,625 5,115 
			 Personal allowance aged 65-74(1) 7,280 6,080 6,610 
			 Personal allowance aged 75 and over(1) 7,420 6,180 6,830 
			 Married or civil partnership couple where one of the couple born before 6 April 1935 but under 75(2) 6,065 (3)5,485 (3)6,065 
			 Married or civil partnership couple where one of the couple born before 6 April 1935 and aged 75 and over(2) 6,135 (3)5,565 (c) (3)6,125 
			 Minimum level of Married Couple's Allowance(2, 4) 2,350 2,130 2,350 
			 Income limit(4) 20,100 18,200 20,100 
			 (1) Every individual receives a personal allowance to set against their own taxable income. In a married couple or civil partner household, both individuals receive a personal allowance but any unused amount cannot be transferred between the couple. (2) Allowance given at a flat rate of 10 per cent. from the claimant's liability. (3) Compensation is assumed in 1999-2000 for the drop in the flat rate from 15 per cent. to 10 per cent. (4) The allowances for those 65 and over are reduced where the claimant's income exceeds the income limit. The personal allowance is not reduced below the level of the basic personal allowance and the married couple's allowance is not reduced below the minimum amount.

Life Expectancy

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average life expectancy was in  (a) the UK,  (b) the West Midlands and  (c) Coventry in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2006.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 20 February 2007:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the average life expectancy was in (a) the UK, (b) the West Midlands and (c) Coventry in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2006. (121489)
	Life expectancy figures are calculated as three year rolling averages. The table below provides the period life expectancy at birth for men and women in (a) the UK, (b) the West Midlands government office region and (c) Coventry local authority district, in (i) 1996-98 and (ii) 2003-05 (the latest period available).
	
		
			  Table 1: Period life expectancy at birth( 1) , UK, West Midlands government office region, Coventry local authority district, 1996-98 and 2003-05( 2,3) 
			  Years of life 
			   Male  Female 
			  Year( 3)  Life expectancy  95 per cent. confidence interval( 4)  Life expectancy  95 per cent. confidence interval( 4) 
			  UK   —  —  — 
			 1996-98 74.5 — 79.6 — 
			 2003-05 76.6 — 80.9 — 
			  
			  West Midlands Government office region 
			 1996-98 74.5 (74.4-74.6) 79.6 (79.5-79.7) 
			 2003-05 76.2 (76.1-76.3) 80.8 (80.7-80.9) 
			  
			  Coventry local authority district 
			 1996-98 73.6 (73.2-74.0) 79.1 (78.7-79.4) 
			 2003-05 75.4 (75.0-75.8) 80.6 (80.2-81.0) 
			 (1) Period life expectancy at birth is an estimate of the average number of years a newborn baby would survive if he or she experienced the area's age-specific mortality rates for that time period throughout his or her life. The figure reflects mortality among those living in the area in each time period, rather than mortality among those born in each area. It is not therefore the number of years a baby born in the area in each time period could actually expect to live, both because the death rates of the area are likely to change in the future and because many of those born in the area will live elsewhere for at least some part of their lives. (2) Using Government office region and local authority boundaries as of 2006 for all the years shown. (3) Three year rolling averages, based on deaths registered in each year and mid-year population estimates. (4) Confidence intervals are a measure of the statistical precision of an estimate and show the range of uncertainty around the estimated figure. Calculations based on small numbers of events are often subject to random fluctuations. As a general rule, if the confidence interval around one figure overlaps with the interval around another, we cannot say with certainty that there is more than a chance difference between the two figures. The confidence interval for life expectancy for the UK as a whole is less than 0.1 years.

Members: Correspondence

John Barrett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects the Tax Credit Office to reply to the fax from the hon. Member for Edinburgh West of 7 November 2006 with regard to his constituent Ms Katrina Anderson.

Dawn Primarolo: The Tax Credit Office wrote directly to the hon. Member's constituent on 8 November 2006. I have asked officials at TCO to retrieve their papers and send him a copy.

Members: Correspondence

John Barrett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects the Tax Credit Office to respond to the faxes from the hon. Member for Edinburgh West of  (a) 9 August 2006 and  (b) 19 September 2006, with regard to his constituents Mr. Willie McDonald and Mrs. Freda McDonald.

Dawn Primarolo: The Tax Credit Office replied to the hon. Member's fax of 9 August 2006 on 30 August 2006 and furnished him with a copy of that reply in response to his subsequent communication, on 4 October 2006.

Pensions

Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the fiscal impact of people choosing to take alternatively secured pensions rather than traditional annuities.

Edward Balls: Alternatively secured pensions (ASPs) were introduced to meet the specific needs of certain religious groups that have a principled religious objection to the pooling of mortality risk through annuities. As explained in the partial regulatory impact assessment published at pre-Budget report ('Tax Relief for Pensions - 2006 Pre-Budget Report Reforms') the fiscal impact of introducing ASPs are part of the overall costs of pension simplification. Estimates of the overall Exchequer costs of pension simplification remain at £25 million for 2006-07, rising to £250 million in 2010-11.
	Widespread use of ASP would have a potential additional cost to the Exchequer due to deferral of tax charges where pensions are not used to provide an income in retirement.

SCC Technology

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been spent on services from SCC Technology since 2005.

Dawn Primarolo: HMRC has spent £58.337 million with SCC Technology since 2005.

Self-employed: Eastbourne

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in Eastbourne were registered as self-employed in each of the last 10 years.

Dawn Primarolo: The number of self-employed taxpayers in the local authority of Eastbourne can be found in table 3.14 "Income and tax by borough and district or unitary authority" and the number of self-employed taxpayers in the parliamentary constituency of Eastbourne can be found in table 3.15 "Income and tax by Parliamentary Constituency" on the HM Revenue and Customs website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/menu-by-vear.htm#315. These tables are only available for 2003-04 and 2004-05.

Tax Allowances: Pensions

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of the cost of all forms of tax relief on pension contributions for each year since 1996-97; what forecast he has made of such reliefs in 2007-08; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Balls: Estimates of the annual cost of tax relief on approved pension schemes are available in Table 7.9 on Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/pensions/menu.htm
	These estimates detail the relief given on contributions to personal and occupational pensions and the investment income of pension funds net of tax on existing private pensions in payment.

Tax Credits

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  which private sector suppliers were used to deliver contact centre services for tax credit claimants in each year since December 2002; how many calls were made to these private sector suppliers; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many of the calls to private sector suppliers delivering contact centre services for tax credit claimants were not recorded in each quarter since January 2003; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: Whenever HMRC uses private sector suppliers to deliver contact centre services, the calls concerned are generic and do not require access to HMRC computer systems or individual customer records.
	HMRC supplemented its internal contact centre capacity with the use of the following private sector suppliers to deliver generic tax credit services during 2003-04:
	 2003
	MM Group Ltd
	Broadsystem Ltd
	 2004
	VenturaUKLtd
	BT plc
	Between them these suppliers have handled around 4 million calls.
	The number of calls handled by private sector suppliers which were not recorded, excluding calls to the freephone response line, was:
	
		
			   Number 
			 January to March 2003 (1)113 
			 April to June 2003 (1)386 
			 July to September 2004 (1, 2)20 
			 October to December 2004 (1, 2)112 
			 (1) Volumes shown in thousands, rounded to nearest thousand. (2) Outbound calls only.

Tax Credits

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit overpayment cases were referred to the Parliamentary Ombudsman in each month since 1 April 2003.

Dawn Primarolo: The Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, is an independent office-holder. She operates under the provisions of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 (as amended). The Parliamentary Ombudsman publishes information about the number of investigable complaints she has received in her annual report to Parliament. Her 2005-06 annual report, HC 1363, was published on 13 July 2006.

Valuation Office

Eric Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what meetings the Valuation Office Agency has had with  (a) the Valuation and Lands Agency,  (b) the Scottish Assessors' Association and  (c) the Republic of Ireland Valuation Office in the last 24 months.

Dawn Primarolo: To discuss common valuation practices in the light of evolving case law, the Valuation Office Agency met representatives from the Northern Ireland Valuation and Lands Agency, the Scottish Assessors' Association and the Irish Valuation Office on 17 May, 8 November 2005, 8 May and 8 November 2006. The Valuation Office Agency also met representatives from the Scottish Assessors' Association on 27 January 2007.
	The Valuation Office Agency's District Valuer Services met with the Northern Ireland Valuation and Lands Agency's Client Services—their equivalent business stream—on 22 March 2006.

Valuation Office: Databases

Eric Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which  (a) Departments,  (b) executive agencies and  (c) non-departmental public bodies have had access to Valuation Office Agency dwellinghouse coding data in the last five years.

Dawn Primarolo: Access to Valuation Office Agency (VOA) attribute data is available to HM Revenue and Customs staff for purposes authorised by statute.
	No access has been given to any other Department, Agency or NDPB. All data held by the Valuation Office Agency—as part of HM Revenue and Customs—are subject to the restrictions imposed by the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.

Water Charges

Eric Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions the Valuation Office Agency has had with  (a) Government Departments and  (b) their agencies on reviewing the rateable values used to assess water rates for domestic properties in England and Wales.

Dawn Primarolo: The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has had no discussions with either Government Departments or their agencies on reviewing the 1973 list domestic rateable values used to determine water charges for many domestic properties. As domestic rating assessments have been abolished, valuation officers are no longer required or permitted to amend rateable values and there is no legislative mechanism by which an appeal can now be made against such a domestic rateable value.

Welfare Tax Credits

Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the HM Revenue and Customs tax credit system allows a risk assessment of the claim to be made; what the average time taken was from claim to first payment in the latest period for which figures are available; and whether the time taken varies by risk category status.

Dawn Primarolo: All tax credit claims are subject to an automated risk assessment process which looks at the features of a claim against known risks. These risk rules work in combination to identify those claims that are high risk and require further consideration, with the highest risk cases looked at by a compliance team who may undertake a full compliance examination before an award is made. The time taken to make any inquiries varies with each individual case.

Welfare Tax Credits

Ben Wallace: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what arrangements are in place to resolve the technical difficulties affecting tax credit payments; and how long he expects it to take;
	(2)  if he will set a time limit for the resolution of the technical difficulties affecting tax credit payments beyond which automatic payments are made.

Dawn Primarolo: Technical problems which affect the tax credits IT system are investigated as they occur and prioritised according to their seriousness and the complexity of the corrective action required to fix them. Where the problems affect tax credit payments, HMRC issues manual payments until such time as system payments can be safely restored.

Welfare Tax Credits

Mike Wood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to HM Revenue and Customs was of dealing with inquiries relating to overpayment of tax credits in 2005-06.

Dawn Primarolo: This information is not available.

Welfare Tax Credits

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on tax credit payments of the release of the most recent IT updates.

Dawn Primarolo: The latest IT software release in January was implemented without any problems.

Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments

Clive Betts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people have received correspondence from HM Revenue and Customs threatening court action over the repayment of tax credit overpayments; and how many have  (a) subsequently become the subject of a court case and  (b) been convicted.

Dawn Primarolo: holding answer 6 February 2007
	HM Revenue and Customs issue at least two written applications for repayment of tax credit overpayments and where possible attempt to make personal contact with the customer, including by telephone, before taking court action.
	A court summons is always the last resort. It is estimated that less than 2.5 per cent. of direct recovery of tax credit overpayment cases will proceed to court action. In the financial year to end of January 2007 some 37,000 court actions were initiated by the issue of a summons and these are at various stages of the court process.

Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments

Alistair Burt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax credit was overpaid in each of the last three financial years; what percentage of the value of total payments made this represented; how many overpayments were made in each year; and what percentage of payments made this represented.

Dawn Primarolo: Information on value of payments made, number of recipients, number and value of overpayments in 2003-04 and 2004-05 is available in the Trust Statements of the Inland Revenue Annual Report and Accounts 2003-04 and Department of Inland Revenue 2004-05 Accounts "Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards 2003-04" and "Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards 2004-05" and "Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards 2004-05. Supplement on payments in 2004-05".
	Information on overpayment of tax credits in 2005-06 is not available until May 2007, when family circumstances and incomes are finalised.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Coroners: Post-mortems

Iris Robinson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs under what circumstances the brain of a deceased person may be retained by a coroner; for how long body parts may be retained; what procedures are in place for informing families that body parts of a deceased relative have been retained; and whether body parts may be retained by a coroner without informing the deceased's family.

Bridget Prentice: A brain, other organs and tissue may be retained following a post-mortem examination in order to enable the pathologist to provide the coroner with an accurate determination of the cause of death. It may also occasionally be necessary to retain organs and tissue for evidential purposes in criminal cases.
	Prior to the Human Organs Inquiry in 2002, families were not routinely informed about retention of organs or tissue following a post-mortem examination. The current procedure in Northern Ireland is that families are contacted by a liaison officer from the Coroners Service immediately following the conclusion of a post-mortem examination and informed about the retention of organs or tissue. Once the organs or tissue can be released, a liaison officer will contact the family to arrange for the return or disposal of the retained material.

Religion: Discrimination

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to the answer to question 119001, what restrictions are not related to accession to the throne.

Bridget Prentice: There are some differences in the requirements that must be met for marriages of different religions to be legally recognised. Most religious marriages, other than Church of England, Society of Friends or Jewish marriages, must be solemnised in a registered building and by an authorised person. Where this does not happen, a civil marriage will be necessary.

Witnesses: Young People

Andrew Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what support is provided for young witnesses in the criminal justice system; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: The Government have launched a number of initiatives which demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that the most vulnerable members of our society, including young people, have access to justice. These include the provision of £30 million per year to Victim Support to provide services for victims and to run the Witness Service (including some special provision for vulnerable or intimidated witnesses); the roll-out of 165 witness care units across England and Wales, providing tailored support for witnesses once a charge is made; and the introduction of special measures, such as screens and video links, under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, designed to make the experience of giving evidence in court less intimidating. Specific additional support for young witnesses includes the provision of a young witness pack and other information resources such as a video, DVD and pop-up court, as well as improved facilities for child witnesses in court, for example newly decorated waiting rooms with books, games and DVDs.

DEFENCE

Admiralty House

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to public funds was of the telephone use of the right hon. Member for Ashfield from his official ministerial residence in Admiralty House in  (a) 2004-05 and  (b) 2005-06.

Derek Twigg: The cost to the Ministry of Defence for telephone services in Admiralty House by my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashfield (Mr. Hoon) was £1,346.33 for the period 1 March 2004 to 28 February 2005 and £200.18 from 1 March 2005 to 31 May 2005. The bulk of these costs were for the provision of secure communications and a fax line. Following his appointment as Leader of the House of Commons after the general election the Ministry of Defence ceased to have responsibility for the telephone services.

Afghanistan: Peace Keeping Operations

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many extra  (a) helicopters,  (b) armoured vehicles and  (c) artillery guns will be deployed to Afghanistan as part of the April roulement.

Des Browne: As I set out in my written statement of 1 February 2007,  Official Report, column 19WS, the force package for Afghanistan is kept under continual review. We have proven processes in place to deliver changes to military capabilities, whether through regular conduct of force level reviews (FLR) or through the urgent operational requirements (UOR) process. Following an FLR in early summer, I announced an uplift to helicopter flying hours in Afghanistan and the deployment of two additional Chinook helicopters. Since then, commanders on the ground have made clear that they have sufficient helicopter assets to conduct operations, and no additional helicopters will be deployed as part of the roulement.
	There will be minor increases to armoured vehicle numbers and artillery light guns as part of the 12 Mechanised Brigade roulement. We are also delivering significant enhancements to the protected mobility equipment available through the UOR process. This includes the forthcoming deployment of Mastiff, which is a well-protected, wheeled patrol vehicle with a less intimidating profile than our tracked vehicles. We are rapidly procuring 108 of these vehicles for use in both Iraq and Afghanistan. We are also deploying 100 Vector, our new Pinzgauer-based protected patrol vehicle, for Afghanistan, on top of the 62 already on contract. Vector provides better protection and increased mobility and capacity compared with the protected Land Rover known as Snatch. This makes it very suitable for the rugged terrain and long patrol distances in Afghanistan. Vector and Mastiff are not specifically part of the roulement, but will be delivered to theatre from February and March 2007 respectively.

Agency Personnel: Scotland

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people are employed by the Queen Victoria School; how many are employed in Scotland; what the personnel costs of the agency are expected to be in 2006-07; and what they were in 2005-06.

Derek Twigg: Queen Victoria School (QVS) employs 69 full-time staff and 10.5 part-time staff full-time equivalents—(31 October 2006 figures). In addition, QVS currently employs four GAP students, one foreign language student and one teacher via the Head Masters Conference Projects in Central and Eastern Europe scheme. All permanent staff—full-time and part-time—are contracted as MOD civil servants and employed in Scotland.
	Personnel costs for 2005-06 were £2.628 million; costs for 2006-07 are expected to remain broadly similar.
	Queen Victoria School ceased to be an agency on 1 April 2005. The school continues to be managed and run by the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces Compensation Scheme

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether former service personnel who receive a payment under the new Armed Forces Compensation Scheme will be treated in an analogous manner to ex-servicemen and women who have received a war pension in regard to priority treatment on the NHS.

Derek Twigg: Priority treatment in the national health service is available to former service personnel for conditions accepted as due to service under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme on the same terms as for the war pension scheme.

Armed Forces: Casualties

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when his Department received from the US Administration the CD recording of the attack which resulted in the death of Lance Corporal of Horse Matthew Hull; under what conditions the CD was given to the Department; which sections of the Department received copies of the recording; how many copies were received; whether any further copies were made; which individuals have had possession of a copy of the recording; what the security classification was of the recording; and what the consequences of this classification were for its handling and disclosure.

Des Browne: The handling of the CD recording in question is currently being investigated. I will write to the hon. Member when the investigation is complete and place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.

Armed Forces: Firearms

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints have been made by personnel serving in  (a) Afghanistan and  (b) Iraq about the (i) SA-80 rifle, (ii) light machine gun, (iii) general purposes machine gun and (iv) heavy machine gun in the last 12 months.

Adam Ingram: There are a number of ways that personnel can give feedback on equipment issues including, via the chain of command, through the GEMs suggestion scheme and via equipment failure investigation teams. Specific information relating to the number of complaints raised through the various routes is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	If, however, the user of a particular piece of equipment formally raises an issue because they believe that the equipment or one of its components has failed unreasonably early in its life, or that it exhibits a design, handling or safety problem, then an equipment failure report (EFR) will be logged. The following table shows the numbers of EFRs logged for each of the four weapons systems, in Iraq and Afghanistan, over the period January 2006 to January 2007 inclusive.
	
		
			  January 2006 to January 2007 
			  Weapon type  EFRs raised in Iraq  EFRs raised in Afghanistan 
			 Heavy machine gun 1 20 
			 Light machine gun 4 1 
			 General purpose machine gun 4 1 
			 SA-80 12 6 
		
	
	It should be noted that the table includes malfunctions of weapon ancillaries (e.g. ammunition magazines) and therefore may not be due to the weapon itself failing.

Armed Forces: Housing

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the Department for Communities and Local Government on the housing needs of serving and former members of the armed forces; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: Discussions between the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Communities and Local Government about the housing needs of armed forces personnel have taken place on a regular basis. One outcome of these meetings was the decision to grant key worker status for armed forces personnel.

Armed Forces: Housing

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has received from Annington Homes under the profit-sharing scheme from the proceeds of sales of former Ministry of Defence housing and land  (a) nationally and  (b) at Colchester in each year since the scheme began.

Derek Twigg: Under the terms of the 1996 sale agreement with Annington Homes Limited (AHL), the Exchequer receives a percentage of any profit the company makes on the subsequent disposal of houses and land returned to it.
	The amounts received over this period are:
	
		
			  Financial year  £ million 
			 1997-98 2.3 
			 1998-99 3.5 
			 1999-2000 6.8 
			 2000-01 8.0 
			 2001-02 16.8 
			 2002-03 29.9 
			 2003-04 29.9 
			 2004-05 15.2 
			 2005-06 18.4 
			 2006-07 (1)9.6 
			 (1)1 April to 31 December 2006 
		
	
	This information is only held on a national (England and Wales) basis, and is not readily available for individual areas.

Armed Forces: Schools

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the  (a) percentage and  (b) number of occasions was where the time taken for transfer of student records between UK schools and service children's education schools exceeded 15 days in each year of the last three years.

Derek Twigg: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However in response to the HCDC report on the education of service children, the Government recently acknowledged the Committee's concerns that some service children are being disadvantaged when they move school because some schools fail to transfer the pupils' records on time. The Government will continue to do all that they can to explain and publicise the 15-day transfer rule to all schools to ensure that they meet this target and will continue to use Teachernet, Schoolsweb and Spectrum to do this.

Armed Forces: Transport

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans there are  (a) to order and  (b) to lease additional Boeing C-17 Globemaster aircraft.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 8 February 2007
	The Department announced in August 2006 that it had signed a contract to purchase the four C-17 aircraft it currently leases from Boeing at the end of the current contract in 2008. At the same time, we also placed an order for a fifth C-17 aircraft that is expected to be delivered in 2008. Beyond this, the Department currently has no plans to order or lease additional C-17s.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the feedback from  (a) ground commanders,  (b) vehicle operators and  (c) senior officers on the deployment of the Bulldog vehicle.

Adam Ingram: The feedback on Bulldog from all ranks has been very positive; Bulldog is proving to be a popular addition to the range of vehicles available to our forces on operations.

Defence Critical Technologies

James Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  whether the recommendations of the joint US Defence Science Board and the Defence Scientific Advisory Council report on defence critical technologies will inform future UK policies on defence research and development and the defence industrial strategy; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  whether he has accepted the recommendations of the joint US Defence Science Board and UK Defence Scientific Advisory Council's report on defence critical technologies; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  how and to what extent the recommendations of the joint US Defence Service Board and UK Defence Scientific Advisory Council report on defence critical technologies contributed to the drafting of the defence technology strategy.

Adam Ingram: The Defence Scientific Advisory Council was involved in the extensive and detailed work between MOD, industry and academia in the wide-ranging review of defence technology following the publication of the defence industrial strategy at the end of 2005. This specifically enabled the findings of the many DSAC enquiries and studies (including the joint work with US Defence Service Board on defence critical technologies) to influence the defence technology strategy. A copy of the defence technology strategy, which states MOD's position on the breadth of defence technologies, is in the Library of the House.

Departmental Fixed Assets

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2007,  Official Report, column 27W, on departmental fixed assets, what information his Department holds centrally on its asset sales.

Adam Ingram: The only data held centrally are those collected for the purposes of the consolidated monthly sales returns produced for the Disposal Services Agency. This information, which is not broken down by individual sale items, is used for accounting and reporting purposes, and is recorded annually in the Agency Key Targets, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.

Departments: Equal Opportunities

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department has taken to implement the Race Equality Duty since 2000.

Derek Twigg: In May 2002, the Department published its Race Equality Scheme which covered the period 2002-05. It was subsequently extended for a further year to 31 March 2006. The scheme set out our arrangements to meet the general and specific duties placed on it under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. The scheme covered the MOD as a government Department, the armed forces and the Chief Constable of the MOD police. We have since published three subsequent progress reports against the Scheme for 2003, 2004 and 2005. We are about to publish a short final supplementary report covering the period August 2005 to March 2006.
	In April 2006, the Department published its first overarching MOD Equality and Diversity Scheme 2006-09, together with a set of Action Plans for 2006-07. Like the Race Equality Scheme, it encompasses the armed forces, civilians, the MOD police and Executive Agencies. This new scheme fulfils the Department's legal obligations to have an Equality Scheme in place under current race and disability legislation, as well as the forthcoming gender duty which comes into force in April 2007. A report against the Action Plan 2006-07 will be published later this year together with a further Action Plan for 2007-08.
	Copies of all other reports and other documents referred above are available in the Library of the House and can also be found on the Department's website at:
	http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWe Do/Personnel/EqualityAndDiversity/RaceEqualityScheme 20022005.htm

Departments: Mental Health Services

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what funding his Department intends to allocate to the mental health charity Combat Stress in each of the next five years.

Derek Twigg: The Ministry of Defence does not allocate in advance funds to Combat Stress. The Department meets individual costs relating to war pensioners who undergo 'remedial treatment' at one of the two Combat Stress homes in England for conditions related to their individual war pensioned disablement. The overall amount of funding is therefore driven by the number of war pensioners who receive treatment and the length of each stay, as well as the rate of the daily fee. Separate payment is provided from the Scottish Health Board for treatment of war pensioners at Hollybush House. The Ministry of Defence also meets the cost of related expenses such as travel expenses on an individual basis, including to Hollybush House.

Departments: Mental Health Services

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what funding his Department provided to  (a) the mental health charity Combat Stress and  (b) Hollybush House in each year between 2001 and 2006.

Derek Twigg: For MOD expenditure since 2001 in respect of individual remedial treatment of qualifying war pensioners at Combat Stress homes in England, I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 12 December 2006,  Official Report, column 933W, to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Willie Rennie). Separate funding is provided from the Scottish Health Board for war pensioners' treatment at Hollybush House.

Departments: Pay

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total sum of bonuses paid to civil servants in his Department was in  (a) 2005 and  (b) 2006.

Derek Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 5 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 356-58W, to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable).

Departments: Secondment

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff were seconded from his Department to  (a) private and  (b) public sector organisations in each year since 2002.

Derek Twigg: The following table shows the number of staff that have been seconded from the Ministry of Defence in each year since 2002. Records are not kept centrally to show whether these secondments are to private or public organisations. These secondments are arranged within the Business Units and no central records are retained of the company or organisation to which staff are seconded. This additional information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			   Secondments out of the MOD 
			 2002 97 
			 2003 129 
			 2004 145 
			 2005 146 
			 2006 125 
			 2007 12

Departments: Secondment

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with which organisations his Department has reciprocal secondment arrangements.

Derek Twigg: Details of those organisations with which the Ministry of Defence has reciprocal secondment arrangements are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Lynx Helicopters: Procurement

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what factors underlay the decision to commit £1 billion to buying 72 Super Lynxes in 2012.

Adam Ingram: The key factors in the decision to procure 70 Future Lynx helicopters (as opposed to Super Lynx), with an option to procure a further 10, were delivery of the required military capability, value for money and coherency with the Defence Industrial Strategy.

Nuclear Submarines

Ian Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what feasibility studies have been undertaken by his Department on acquiring a replacement for the Vanguard class ship submersible ballistic nuclear submarines without using the construction facility at Barrow in Furness; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: I refer my hon. Friend to the information contained in the White Paper "The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent" (Cmd 6994). It would be our intention to build the new SSBNs in the UK. But this is dependent on proposals from industry that provide the right capability at the right time and offer value for money. Progress towards industrial consolidation and a sustainable industrial base will be an important ingredient. The current industrial structure limits the scope for system-level competition in the UK. Therefore the key to successful procurement in the UK would be to work closely with industry right down the supply chain to put in place effective contractual arrangements that run through the life of the platform.

Parliamentary Questions

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many parliamentary written questions his Department received in each parliamentary session since 2001; and how many of these questions  (a) were not answered because of disproportionate cost,  (b) were not answered,  (c) received answers referring back to a previous answer (i) asked by the hon. Member and (ii) asked by another hon. Member and  (d) were grouped together for answer;
	(2)  what target his Department has for the maximum acceptable amount of time to answer parliamentary written questions; and what percentage of parliamentary answers met that target in each parliamentary session since 2001.

Derek Twigg: The information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. I am able to provide the total number of parliamentary questions tabled to the Ministry of Defence in each session since 2001 and this is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Session  Total number of questions 
			 2001-02 4,874 
			 2002-03 4,622 
			 2003-04 3,745 
			 2004-05 1,707 
			 2005-06 5,312 
		
	
	Ministers aim to answer parliamentary questions within the timescales specified by Parliament which is named day questions on the day named and ordinary written questions within a working week.

Private Finance Initiative

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 6 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 446-48W, on the private finance initiative, whether public private partnership contracts are included in this list.

Adam Ingram: My answer referred only to private finance initiative contracts and not to any other public private partnership contracts placed by the Department.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the trained  (a) requirement and  (b) actual strength was for personnel in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2007.

Derek Twigg: In January 2007, the trained requirement for Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) personnel was 2,460, and the actual trained strength was 2,160. The total strength of all RFA personnel was 2,370.
	Precise data for trained strength in 1997 were lost in 1998 following the failure of the RFA's HR computer system. The data still held indicate that the requirement was about 2,600 in April 1997. The total strength of all RFA personnel was 2,210.
	RFA strength figures are available quarterly in Civilian Personnel Statistics 1 (CPS 1), a National Statistics publication. The most recent publication can be accessed at:
	http://www.dasa.mod.uk/natstats/cps1/cps1tab1.html.
	Copies of CPS 01 are available in the Library of the House, and at:
	www.dasa.mod.uk.

Submarines

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) UK and  (b) other submarines have been assigned to EUFOR activities; where they have been assigned; and for what reasons.

Adam Ingram: No submarines have supported EUFOR operations.

Trident

Ian Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of skilled jobs which will be involved in the  (a) design,  (b) construction and  (c) maintenance work required for Trident replacement.

Adam Ingram: No decisions have yet been taken on the procurement strategy for a replacement for the Vanguard class submarines. On this basis it is too early to speculate about the number of skilled jobs that might be involved in the design, construction and maintenance.

Veterans Agency

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what budget has been allocated to fund the rebranding of the Veterans Agency and Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency as the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: No separate budget has been allocated to meet these costs. Such cost will be met from within the existing budgets of the two agencies.

Veterans Badge

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many former members of the UK armed forces are entitled to the Veterans Badge; how many such badges have been  (a) issued and  (b) claimed; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 30 January 2007
	All regular and reserve personnel are entitled to the HM Armed Forces Veterans Badge on leaving the UK Armed Forces; the numbers will change from year to year depending on changes in outflow but for regulars, for example, this involves some 23,000 leavers in the last year. Not all leavers wish to receive a badge and we do not currently collect statistics on the number of badges issued to personnel on leaving the armed forces.
	All existing ex-service personnel are also entitled to the Veterans Badge. However, for practical reasons the eligibility to apply for the badge has had to be phased in. Since 18 April 2005, the Veterans Agency has administered the badge and, as at 27 January 2007, 300,493 applications for badges had been received and 296,838 badges had been issued to ex-service personnel and to widows and widowers whose spouses' deaths were attributable to their service.
	Before this, no records of application numbers were kept but some 82,000 badges were issued. Future announcements on extending the eligibility to apply for the badges will be made in due course.

Warrior Armoured Vehicle

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the cost of replacing the air-conditioning systems inside the Warrior fighting vehicles;
	(2)  what the average daytime temperature was inside a Warrior fighting vehicle in Iraq with the air-conditioning turned on in each of the last 12 months;
	(3)  what plans he has to  (a) replace and  (b) upgrade air-conditioning systems in the Warrior fighting vehicle.

Adam Ingram: Statistics on the average daytime temperature inside Warrior vehicles each month are not available. All Warrior vehicles in Iraq have air conditioned driver's compartments. However, infantry Warrior variants will soon be provided with environmental control units (ECUs-air conditioning) for their crew compartments, to afford cooler operating temperatures for the occupants and vehicle systems. On current plans the units will be delivered to Iraq and integrated on to vehicles before the summer. Specialist Warrior variants already have ECUs.
	I am withholding details of the costs as their release would, or would be likely to, prejudice commercial interests.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Advertising

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on advertising with  The Guardian newspaper, including online, advertorials and advertising features, in the latest year for which figures are available.

Anne McGuire: Figures for advertising expenditure with  The Guardian newspaper including online advertorials, advertising features and statutory notices for the period April 2005 to March 2006, are in the table.
	
		
			  April 2005 to March 2006 
			   £000 
			  Campaign advertising  
			 'Extending Boundaries' Guardian supplement (Disability) 50 
			 Winter Fuel Payments 2 
			   
			  Campaign advertising—online  
			 'Extending Boundaries' Guardian supplement (Disability) 15 
			 Disability Discrimination Act 4 
			   
			  Statutory notices  
			 DWP 6 
			   
			 Total 77 
			  Notes: 1. The table does not include expenditure on recruitment advertising as the information is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost. 2. The table does not include spend by non-departmental bodies for which the Department is responsible as the information is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost. 3. The figures in these tables refer to media spend only, excluding production and other costs. 4. All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand. 5. Figures for marketing campaign advertising are quoted net of VAT.

Cemeteries: Safety

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance the Health and Safety Executive has issued to local authorities on headstones in cemeteries.

Anne McGuire: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has not published any guidance on headstones, as there is extensive industry guidance and a British Standard on the subject. However, in 2004, the chairman of the Health and Safety Commission wrote to all local authorities, setting out the need for a pragmatic approach to this very sensitive issue. Ministers are currently considering what further steps may be necessary in order to encourage authorities to adopt a responsible but proportionate approach to memorial safety.

Child Maintenance Payments

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the likely impact of removing the requirement that all parents with care claiming benefits be treated as applying for child maintenance as outlined on page 32 of the White Paper "A new system of child maintenance on compliance by non resident parents".

James Plaskitt: We anticipate fewer parents with care will apply to the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission as a result of removing the requirement that all parents with care claiming benefits be treated as applying for child maintenance. In most cases this will be where parents with care are able to make private arrangements for child maintenance, so maintenance will continue to flow, or where no maintenance would have flowed anyway, for example, where the parent with care does not have enough information about the non-resident parent for a calculation to be made in a case.
	New information and guidance measures and a higher disregard of maintenance in benefits should ensure that where parents with care will benefit from maintenance payments, they seek maintenance through one of the routes available. Tougher enforcement measures available to the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will ensure that non-resident parents fulfil their responsibilities.

Child Support: IT

Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the IT requirements for the new system of child support; what discussions his Department and officials have had with IT contractors for the new system of child support; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The existing IT and contracts will be used by C-MEC once it takes on existing CSA operations.
	C-MEC will consider what future requirements for IT services are required to support its operation of the new system for child maintenance. It will be responsible for putting in place the necessary arrangements and contracts for IT.

Compensation Payments

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much in compensation payments was paid by his Department in 2005-06; and what the reason was for each payment.

Anne McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions operates a discretionary, non-statutory scheme providing financial redress for maladministration. The scheme is operated by the Department's executive agencies and detailed reasons for payment in individual cases are not recorded centrally. The general categories of payment and sums authorised during 2005-06 are in the following table:
	
		
			  Category  Amount (£) 
			 Loss of statutory entitlement 2,055,200.30 
			 Actual financial loss 3,423,871.80 
			 Compensation for delay 8,093,306.02 
			 Consolatory 822,407.03 
			  Notes:  1. This represents in total 0.012 per cent. of our benefit programme expenditure. 2. Loss of statutory entitlement may occur where an individual has lost a benefit, pension or allowance as a result of official error such as the provision of wrong or misleading advice by an official. 3. Payments in respect of actual financial loss are made to recompense individuals who have suffered some financial loss or incurred expenses as a direct result of maladministration. 4. Payments of compensation for delay are made in the form of interest and are intended to restore the value of payments that have been excessively or unreasonably delayed as a result of maladministration. The figure displayed in the table includes £5.8 million paid by the Pension Service. This followed a special exercise to identify cases where extra benefit in the form of carer and severe disability premiums could be made. 5. Consolatory payments are made where individuals have suffered gross inconvenience, gross embarrassment, or severe distress in consequence of maladministration.

Child Support Agency: Arrears

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how much his Department has spent on referring Child Support Agency cases with outstanding arrears to debt collection agencies since August 2005; how much such agencies have collected in outstanding arrears; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many unresolved Child Support Agency cases are with debt collection agencies.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 20 February 2007:
	In reply to your Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions:
	; and
	How many unresolved Child Support Agency cases are with debt collection agencies.
	Between August 2005 and March 2006 the Agency conducted a small-scale pilot using two private debt collection agencies to assess the feasibility of involving the private sector to recover Agency debt. Following the pilot and a procurement exercise the Agency signed contracts with two debt collection agencies on 7 July 2006.
	The Agency's contracts with these agencies involve paying a fee for successful collection of debt, rather than paying for each referral. Between August 2005 and the end of December 2006 a total of just over £72,000 has been paid to the debt collection agencies involved in both the pilot and the current contract and nearly £580,000 had been collected by these agencies.
	As at the end of December 2006 15,000 cases had been transferred to the Agency's current Debt Collection Agencies. 164 of these had been returned to the Agency as unresolved, and 215 had been returned as the outstanding amount has been paid in full.
	A letter sent by the Agency to inform clients that their debt is to be transferred to the external debt collection agencies had also resulted in an additional over £500,000 collected by the Agency by the end of December 2006.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.

Child Support Agency: Arrears

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how much has been spent by his Department on referring Child Support Agency cases with outstanding arrears to debt collection agencies since August 2005; how much such agencies have collected in outstanding arrears; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many unresolved Child Support Agency cases are with debt collection agencies.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 20 February 2007:
	In your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions:
	; and
	How many unresolved Child Support Agency cases are currently with debt collection agencies.
	Between August 2005 and March 2006 the Agency conducted a small-scale pilot using two private debt collection agencies to assess the feasibility of involving the private sector to recover Agency debt. Following the pilot and a procurement exercise the Agency signed contracts with two debt collection agencies on 7th July 2006.
	The Agency's contracts with these agencies involve paying a fee for successful collection of debt, rather than paying for each referral. Between August 2005 and the end of December 2006 a total of just over £72,000 has been paid to the debt collection agencies involved in both the pilot and the current contract and nearly £580,000 had been collected by these agencies.
	As at the end of December 2006 15,000 cases had been transferred to the Agency's current Debt Collection Agencies. 164 of these had been returned to the Agency as unresolved, and 215 had been returned as the outstanding amount has been paid in full.
	A letter sent by the Agency to inform clients that their debt is to be transferred to the external debt collection agencies had also resulted in an additional over £500,000 collected by the Agency at the end of December 2006.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.

Departmental Websites

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent on administering the imageofdisability.gov.uk website in the last five months.

Anne McGuire: Maintenance and administration of the Images of Disability (IoD) website is carried out by the Department's in-house web team which is responsible for the production, management and maintenance of all DWP websites. It is not possible to quantify internal costs for each site. There were no contracted costs associated with the IoD website in the last five months.

Departmental Websites

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent on the launch of the imageofdisability.gov.uk website.

Anne McGuire: The launch for the Images of Disability website comprised an email alert using an existing database of contacts. No costs were incurred.

Departmental Websites

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many user visits were recorded on the imageofdisability.gov.uk website in each of the last five months.

Anne McGuire: The site received the following visits and unique visits in the last five months.
	
		
			  Reporting month  Visits( 1)  Unique visitors( 2) 
			 September 2006 5,743 2,286 
			 October 2006 4,592 2,006 
			 November 2006 4,545 2,050 
			 December 2006 4,114 1,557 
			 January 2007 5,282 2,194 
			 Total 24,276 10,093 
			 (1) Visits—number of times a visitor or visitors came to the site. Each visit is recorded separately for every visit more than 30 minutes apart. (2) Unique visitors—individuals who visited the site during the report period. If someone visits more than once, they are counted only the first time they visit.

Departments: Freedom of Information

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions special advisers have been consulted in replying to Freedom of Information requests to his Department; and what his Department's policy is on the role of special advisers in the answering of Freedom of Information requests.

Anne McGuire: No records are kept in the number of times special advisers have been consulted on FOI requests.
	Responses to Freedom of Information requests are the responsibility of the official who has direct access to the information sought or who deals with the policy in question. In a small proportion of cases, Ministers may be consulted on departmental responses and special advisers will be copied in to those submissions.

Departments: Gender Equality

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to implement the gender equality duty due to come into force on 6 April.

Anne McGuire: My Department has assessed its functions and policies for their impact on gender equality. Each business in the Department has published a gender equality scheme, committing to objectives and action plans for addressing any areas of concern and for ensuring that we meet the requirements of the gender equality duty. Our gender equality schemes were published in December 2006.
	In preparation for the duty, all staff are receiving equality training on this and all other equality requirements, and there has been widespread communication about the new duty. There will be further communication about the new duty as it comes into force in April.

Departments: Handbooks

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's staff handbook.

Anne McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions does not produce a staff handbook as all the relevant information is held electronically on a departmental intranet to which all staff have access.

Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisers

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what notices of external employment have been given by special advisers in his Department in the last two years.

Anne McGuire: The rules for civil servants, including special advisers, who wish to take up other employment in addition to their civil service duties are set out in Section 4.3 of the Civil Service Management Code. Such information is not normally made public. There are no plans to create a public register of interests for special advisers.

Disability Premiums

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the total amount in disability premiums underpaid to income support claimants in each of the last five years.

Anne McGuire: No such estimate has been made; the necessary information is not available.

Disabled People: Internet Access

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department has taken to promote improved internet access for disabled people.

Anne McGuire: The Department for Trade and Industry has overall responsibility for digital inclusion.
	This Department has responsibility for disability discrimination policy. Under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), a disabled person may be able to take legal action if they are unable to access goods or services because of their impairment. DWP has taken action to raise awareness of the DDA, most recently through the "Adjusting for Better Business" campaign, which ran from December 2005 to November 2006.
	DWP is also the sponsoring body for the Disability Rights Commission (DRC). The DRC published the findings of its formal investigation into the issues that disabled people face when using websites in 2004. In March 2006, the Minister for Disabled People spoke at the launch of PAS (Publicly Available Specification) 78, developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and the DRC. PAS78 is a set of guidelines on how to make websites more user-friendly for disabled people.
	DWP is committed to improving the accessibility of its own websites. All its sites are working towards complying with the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (W3C WCAG) at level AA, in line with Cabinet Office guidance. Guidelines have been developed for site managers, and a testing and improvement programme is now in place. In a recent audit, 45 per cent. of DWP's information sites passed automated checks for level AA.
	All of DWP's information for disabled people is now published through Directgov's Disabled People section, which helps to ensure that disabled people with a wide variety of impairments are able to find and access information easily. This section of the site is promoted through a variety of means, including search-engine marketing activities, links with many other disability-related organisations and attendance at relevant events and exhibitions. Directgov complies with WAI level AA.

Disabled: Children

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many parents with children with disabilities there are in each income decile.

Anne McGuire: holding answer 5 February 2007
	Detailed information regarding low income for Great Britain is available in "Households Below Average Income 1994/95-2004/05".
	The data are not robust enough to split such a relatively small sub-group of individuals into income deciles. However, we are able to provide information by income quintile and this is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Parents with disabled children in each income quintile in 2004-05, Great Britain 
			  Number (Million) 
			   Bottom quintile  Second quintile  Middle quintile  Fourth quintile  Top quintile  Total 
			 Before Housing Costs 0.25 0.28 0.23 0.16 0.08 1.0 
			 After Housing Costs 0.25 0.28 0.25 0.14 0.07 1.0 
			  Note: Totals may not sum due to rounding.  Source: Family Resources Survey 2004-05.

Health and Safety Executive

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether any Health and Safety Executive posts are planned to be lost in  (a) 2006-07 and  (b) 2007-08.

Anne McGuire: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will need to reduce the number of posts by 250-350 by 31 March 2008 to keep within current financial budgets. The exact number will depend upon the rate and grade of staff who leave HSE over this period.

Health, Work and Wellbeing Strategy

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what action the Government have taken to take forward the Health, Work and Wellbeing strategy.

Anne McGuire: The Health, Work and Wellbeing strategy has been gaining momentum. The main focus to date has been on engaging stakeholders and spreading the strategy's key messages; developing partnership work between Government Departments; and co-ordinating work taking place across government.
	Notable achievements in the past year include the appointment of Professor Dame Carol Black as the first National Director for Health and Work; the formation of a National Stakeholder Council, to advise and guide Ministers on appropriate action to deliver this agenda; and the publication of an evidence review, tasked with answering the question: 'Is work good for your health and well-being?' (Waddell and Burton, 2006).
	Examples of initiatives being taken forward as part of the strategy are Improving Access to Psychological Therapies which aims to respond to patients' preferences for 'talking therapies' and Workplace Health Connect which is a free and confidential occupational health service for smaller businesses.
	Further information about the actions taken so far by the strategy will be published shortly in an update on progress.

Incapacity Benefit

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to reduce the  (a) time spent and  (b) cost of making a personal capability assessment to determine continuing entitlement to incapacity benefit.

Anne McGuire: Doctors spend as long as is required to carry out an appropriate personal capability assessment. Some types of disabling conditions will take longer than others to assess depending on the nature of the individual's physical and/or mental disabilities.
	Medical services, including personal capability reports, are provided under contract to the DWP. This contract was awarded following a competitive tendering exercise and the Department is satisfied that the costs agreed under this contract continue to represent best value for money.
	As with all our processes, the PCA process is kept under review, to ensure it best meets requirements.

Incapacity Benefit

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment his Department has made of the efficiency of process for conducting a personal capability assessment to determine continuing entitlement to incapacity benefit.

Anne McGuire: The timing of a personal capability assessment (PCA) to review a customer's entitlement to incapacity benefit is decided on the basis of medical advice. The PCA would be held at a time when it would be reasonable to expect that a customer's condition may have changed.
	Regardless of whether a customer's condition will change, everyone's entitlement to incapacity benefit will be reviewed at least once every three years.
	As with all our processes, the PCA process is kept under review, to ensure it best meets requirements.

Industrial Health and Safety: Suffolk

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Suffolk were charged with offences under health and safety legislation enforced by the Health and Safety Executive in each of the last five years.

Anne McGuire: The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Number 
			   Prosecution cases  Offences prosecuted (individual breaches)  Offences convicted 
			 2001-02 24 43 41 
			 2002-03 17 27 23 
			 2003-04 14 24 15 
			 2004-05 12 29 25 
			 2005-06(1) 3 3 3 
			 (1) Provisional.  Notes: 1. The annual basis is the planning year from 1 April to 31 March, and based on date of hearing. 2. The number of cases refers to a prosecution against a single defendant. Cases may include a number of offences prosecuted, which are individual breaches of health and safety legislation laid before the court. 3. Figures cover Suffolk incorporating the following local authorities: Babergh, Forest Heath, Ipswich (borough of), Mid Suffolk, St. Edmundsbury, Suffolk Coastal and Waveney.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Bristol

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of the resident working-age population in each ward in Bristol East constituency is in receipt of jobseeker's allowance.

James Plaskitt: The information is not available in the format requested. The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Jobseeker's Allowance claimants in the Bristol East parliamentary constituency, by ward: May 2006 
			  Ward name  Total claimants 
			 Brislington East 135 
			 Brislington West 95 
			 Easton 360 
			 Eastville 210 
			 Lawrence Hill 795 
			 St George East 145 
			 St George West 195 
			 Stockwood 85 
			 Knowle(1) 135 
			 (1) Knowle ward does not fall wholly within the Bristol East parliamentary constituency.  Notes:  1. Figures supplied have been rounded to the nearest five to protect the confidentiality of claimants. 2 Figures exclude a very small number of cases that are held clerically. 3 2003 ward boundaries are used.  Source: 100 per cent DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS)

National Insurance Numbers

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of national insurance numbers which were used for fraudulent purposes in each of the last five years.

James Plaskitt: We have robust checks in place to prevent national insurance numbers being used fraudulently and to protect the benefit systems against identity fraud.
	Where a national insurance number has been identified as having been used for fraudulent purposes, a mark is put on the national insurance number account. If any activity occurs on the account, a report is issued to the National Identity Fraud Unit (NIFU) within three days advising what activity has taken place.
	If NIFU are advised of a NINO being used by another person, the account is classed as vulnerable and is flagged as having a NIFU interest. If there is any benefit activity on that account, NIFU receive a report within three days of the activity. A report of suspected fraud is completed and this is sent to the Fraud Investigation Service Operational Intelligence Unit pertinent to the area within the UK. A decision will then be taken as to the appropriate type of investigation to be carried out. This can potentially lead to prosecution of the individual involved.
	The available information regarding the number of marked accounts is in the table.
	
		
			   Number of marked accounts 
			 2003-04 2,341 
			 2004-05 1,087 
			 2005-06 2,521 
			 All 5,949

Occupational Pensions

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent representations he has received in respect of reductions in occupational pensions.

James Purnell: Ministers and officials frequently meet and correspond with affected pension scheme members and their representatives. Representations are therefore received on an ongoing basis.

Parliamentary Questions

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer by the Leader of the House on 16 November 2006,  Official Report, column 134, on parliamentary questions, what information his Department supplied to the Leader of the House on the number of questions tabled to his Department to enable him to reply to the question.

Anne McGuire: holding answer 4 December 2006
	The information supplied to the Leader of the House was as follows:
	
		
			  Outstanding PQs after prorogation 
			   Number 
			 Total outstanding questions 121 
			 Answered with a "prorogation answer" 25 
			 Answered with an "I will write" 0 
		
	
	A detailed record check subsequent to supplying that information has identified that 29 questions received a prorogation answer. The revised information has been provided to the Leader of the House to enable a pursuant reply to be made to the hon. Member.

Pensioners: Income

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of pensioners with an income of less than £115 per week; what proportion of these are  (a) women,  (b) age over 75,  (c) age over 80 and  (d) age over 85; and if he will make a statement.

James Purnell: The latest available information on pensioner incomes is for 2004-05. Therefore information is provided for that year, based on an income of £115 per week, deflated to 2004-05 prices.
	The information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Pensioner units with a gross income of less than £115 per week (deflated to 2004-05 price of £107.82) 
			   Pensioner couples  Single pensioners 
			  Number   
			 All 20,000 310,000 
			
			  Percentage   
			 Women — 87.0 
			 Over 75 35.0 54.0 
			 Over 80 23.0 39.0 
			 Over 85 9.0 17.0 
			  Notes: 1. Gross income is income from all sources received by the pensioner unit including income from social security benefits, earnings from employment, any private pension, and tax credits. 2. Figures are for Great Britain. 3. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10,000. 4. Based on survey data and as such subject to a degree of sampling error. 5. Pensioner units are either pensioner couples or single pensioners. 6. Pensioner couples are couples where the man is over state pension age. 7. The breakdown by age for pensioner couples is by the age of the man.  Source: Pensioners' Incomes Series, 2004-05

Procurement: Equal Opportunities

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect of the Public Procurement Regulations 2006 on the ability of public authorities to meet their disability equality duty through the award of contracts.

Anne McGuire: holding answer 8 February 2007
	Representing the wider Government, departmental officials have met with Remploy, the GMB trade union and officials from the Office of Government Commerce to discuss the barriers that Remploy and other supported business are facing in trying to make best use of the opportunities presented by the public procurement regulations.
	The DWP procurement community has made an assessment of the implications of the regulations and concluded that our policies fully supported the act. This was followed by workshops for procurement staff on the implications of the regulations and our duty to make more use of them during the planning for the award of DWP contracts.

Publications

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list by date all statistical releases and reports due for publication by his Department and its agencies in 2007.

Anne McGuire: The following information is available at:
	www.statistics.gov.uk.
	All statistics that DWP publishes are accessible from the following website:
	www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/statistics.asp
	 Child Support Agency statistics
	25 January 2007
	26 April 2007
	July 2007
	October 2007
	 Fraud and error in the benefit system
	1 February 2007
	 Fraud and error in the benefit system (Spending Review 2004 target baseline)
	Spring 2007
	 Benefit claimant, employment programme, labour market decision and vacancy statistics
	14 February 2007
	16 May 2007
	15 August 2007
	14 November 2007
	 Contributions and qualifying years
	28 February 2007
	 Second tier pension provision
	28 February 2007
	 Pensioners income series
	March 2007
	 Family Resources Survey (2005-06)
	March 2007
	 Household below average income (2005-06)
	March 2007
	 Income related benefits: Estimates of take-up pension credit
	March 2007
	 Other benefits
	Summer 2007
	 Abstract of statistics
	June 2007
	 National insurance number allocations to overseas nationals
	July 2007
	 Fraud and error in the benefit system (October 2005 to September 2006)
	Summer 2007
	 Annual local Labour Force Survey
	Summer 2007
	 Tax benefit model tables
	August 2007

Social Security Benefits: Administrative Delays

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many benefit recipients requested that his Department refund bank penalty charges which have arisen as a result of benefit payments being late because of an error on the part of his Department in each year since 2002.

James Plaskitt: The information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

UN Convention on Disability

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how much his Department  (a) has spent and  (b) plans to spend on each scheme to promote the UN Convention on disability;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to promote the UN Convention on disability.

Anne McGuire: My Department held a number of meetings with disability organisations and others during negotiations on the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People. These informed the UK's negotiating stance and helped raise awareness of the Convention among disabled people. In addition, my Department finances the maintenance of a website run by an independent disability and human rights expert which is designed to provide information for disabled Britons about the Convention. Other opportunities have been taken to promote awareness of the Convention, for example, a joint event with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development. The cost of these activities is not readily available. Decisions about future promotional activities, and related costs, have yet to be taken. The Convention was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 13 December 2006. The UK supports it wholeheartedly and hopes to be among the first countries to sign and ratify the Convention.

Voluntary Work

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people on  (a) jobseeker's allowance and  (b) incapacity benefit were involved in voluntary work in each of the last 24 months.

James Plaskitt: The information for people on jobseeker's allowance could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	The information for people on incapacity benefit is not available.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Syria

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will make a statement on UK relations with Syria.

Kim Howells: Our embassy in Damascus maintains regular contact with the Government of Syria. We have a number of concerns regarding Syria's role in the region. The Prime Minister's Foreign Policy Adviser, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, raised these concerns when he visited Syria on 30 October 2006. We hope that Syria will make the strategic choice to play the constructive role that the international community expects. We are keeping our policy under review.

Zimbabwe

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations she has made to the Zimbabwean Government on the treatment of white farmers.

Ian McCartney: The Government of Zimbabwe are well aware of our views on their treatment of farmers and farm workers irrespective of the colour of their skin or ethnic background. Their disastrous economic policies have caused massive internal displacement of farm workers and their families. They have undermined food security, eroded agricultural exports and crippled the Zimbabwean economy. In all our contacts with the Government, we underline the need for real reform to reverse the tragedy which is currently unfolding in Zimbabwe.
	The Government of Zimbabwe are also fully aware of our views on the use of violence to break up peaceful protests. The excessive force used to disperse lawful demonstrations and rallies over the last week is a case in point. We strongly condemn the actions of the Zimbabwean police, and call on the Zimbabwean authorities to undertake a full and fair investigation of the events.

Sri Lanka

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions she has had with the Government of Sri Lanka on armed conflict within the country.

Kim Howells: I have just returned from a visit to Sri Lanka. In my meetings with the President, senior ministers, representatives of the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities, and NGOs, I spoke of the damage that the current escalation of the conflict and concern about human rights were doing to Sri Lanka's image and the quality of its democracy. I stressed that a military solution alone could not provide a lasting peace in Sri Lanka—the parties to the conflict have to work together towards a lasting solution. Britain stands ready to help and as a friend of Sri Lanka will continue to work actively to support the search for peace.

Sri Lanka

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will make a statement on political conflict in Sri Lanka.

Kim Howells: I refer the hon. member to the answer I gave earlier to the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (Mr. Llwyd) today (UIN 121330).
	In my meetings with the Sri Lankan President and other senior Ministers last week, I stressed that a military solution alone cannot provide a lasting peace in Sri Lanka. The parties to the conflict have to work together towards a lasting solution.

Sri Lanka

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps her Department is taking to promote an end to the conflict in Sri Lanka.

Kim Howells: I have just returned from a visit to Sri Lanka, where I held meetings in Colombo and Ampara district with the President, senior ministers, representatives of the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities, and non-governmental organisations.
	I made clear our concern that the current escalation of the conflict was holding back Sri Lanka's development, corroding the quality of its democracy and tarnishing its international image. Drawing on the lessons of the peace process in Northern Ireland, I stressed that a military solution alone could not provide a lasting peace in Sri Lanka—the parties to the conflict have to work together towards a solution that will ultimately satisfy the legitimate aspirations of all Sri Lankans.
	Ultimately, only the Sri Lankans can find that solution. But Britain stands ready to help and as a friend of Sri Lanka will continue to work actively to support the search for peace.

Iraq

Malcolm Rifkind: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will make a statement on the security situation in Iraq.

Kim Howells: The security situation in Iraq is complex and varies across the country. 80 per cent. of the attacks in Iraq happen within a 30-mile radius of Baghdad.
	Improving security is the highest priority for both the Iraqi Government and the Coalition. Prime Minister Maliki has recognised that a large part of the solution lies in promoting national reconciliation as well as in military action. We strongly welcome his commitment in this area.

Iraq

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what date her Department received a copy of the letter from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Prime Minister seeking permission for his trip to Iraq on 18 November.

Ian McCartney: We received a copy of the letter on 13 November 2006.

Middle East

Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will make a statement on the political situation in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Margaret Beckett: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt) today (UIN 121320).

Middle East

Kali Mountford: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of progress with the middle east peace process.

Kim Howells: There have been positive developments on the peace process in recent months. Both parties are committed to negotiations and met bilaterally on 23 December and together with Secretary Rice yesterday. The ceasefire in Gaza between the parties is also still holding. But, there is much work to do to build confidence between the parties to reach substantive negotiations. We, along with the Quartet and international partners, will do all we can to help achieve this. We also welcome Saudi Arabia's efforts to broker a National Unity Government through negotiations with Hamas and Fatah.

Middle East

Neil Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will make a statement on the current situation in Israel and Palestine.

Kim Howells: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Kali Mountford).
	There have been positive developments on the peace process in recent months. Both parties are committed to negotiations and met bilaterally on 23 December and together with Secretary Rice yesterday. The ceasefire in Gaza between the parties is also still holding. But, there is much work to do to build confidence between the parties to reach substantive negotiations. We, along with the Quartet and international partners, will do all we can to help achieve this. We also welcome Saudi Arabia's efforts.

Kosovo

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions she has had on the status of Kosovo; and if she will make a statement.

Geoff Hoon: I had the opportunity to have in depth discussions on the UN-led final status process for Kosovo in Belgrade on 7 February with the President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Serbia. In addition, the Foreign Secretary discussed Kosovo with EU Foreign Ministers at the External Relations Council on 12 February.
	The United Kingdom will continue to work in the region and with our international partners to achieve a lasting status settlement for Kosovo which will enhance regional stability and the region's European and Euro-Atlantic prospects.

Burma

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the level of religious persecution in Burma.

Ian McCartney: There are severe restrictions on freedom of all religions, including towards members of the majority Buddhist faith, particularly if they are perceived as anti-Government. Ethnic minority communities, many of whom are Christian, are disproportionately affected by the wider pattern of human rights abuse carried out by the Burmese regime.
	We condemn all instances of individuals facing discrimination because of their faith or belief.
	On 24 January, I met representatives from the Burmese Chin and Kachin ethnic groups to discuss the many difficulties faced by their respective communities, including violations of their religious freedoms.
	We raise the human rights situation regularly with the Burmese regime and other Governments in the region, most recently when our ambassador in Rangoon met the Burmese Ministers for Planning and Immigration and the Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister on 5 January.

Prospects for the European Union

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with her German counterpart on the future of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.

Geoff Hoon: I met with German colleagues most recently in December in both London and Berlin. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and I meet regularly with our German counterparts under their Presidency of the EU, not least every month at the General Affairs and External Relations Council. Our discussions cover a wide range of issues, including climate change, energy security, economic reform and the future of Europe.

Iraq: Weapons

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what examination has been undertaken since 2003 of  (a) surviving and  (b) deceased political prisoners imprisoned under the Saddam Hussein regime to establish which (i) biological and (ii) chemical weapons-related material had been tested on them.

Kim Howells: holding answer 19 February 2007
	The United Kingdom has not undertaken any examination since 2003 of surviving or deceased political prisoners imprisoned under Saddam Hussein's regime, to establish which biological or chemical weapons-related material had been tested on them.
	We have developed forensic examination capacity within the Government of Iraq by helping to establish forensic training centres in Baghdad and Basra. In addition, we have funded forensics training for professionals who it is hoped will work in the National Centre for Missing and Disappeared Persons.

Nigeria

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will place in the Library a copy of the letter to the Prime Minister from the Chancellor of the Exchequer which sought permission for his trip to Nigeria on 22 May.

Ian McCartney: holding answer 27 November 2006
	I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave to the hon. Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) on 12 July 2006,  Official Report, column 1913W, and the response given at
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov/uk/about/information/freedom_ of_information_act2000.cfm
	where further information is available. I will also arrange for a copy of this response to be placed in the Library of the House and a copy to be sent to the hon. Member.

West Bank

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations she has made to the Israeli prime minister on his approval of the proposal to move the separation barrier five kilometres to the east of the green line in the area of Modi'in Ilit.

Kim Howells: We are concerned by reports that the Israeli Government are considering changing the route of the barrier to incorporate two west bank settlements. We fully recognise Israel's right to self-defence. But the barrier's route should be on or behind the green line, and not on occupied territory. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary raised settlement activity with Israeli Defence Minister Peretz during her recent visit to the region and I raised the issue of the barrier's route in my meeting with the Israeli ambassador to the UK on 19 February 2007.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Burglary: Crime Prevention

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department is still funding the lock, stop, chain and check programme to beat bogus callers.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 19 February 2007
	Local crime prevention initiatives are determined and funded through local area agreements depending on local needs and priorities. Distraction burglary remains a priority in many areas although total numbers are low, it is a heinous crime targeted at the most vulnerable members of the community.
	The Home Office continues to provide a range of free publicity materials based around the lock, stop, chain, check message for use by local practitioners.

Female Genital Mutilation Act

Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many social service interventions have taken place relating to female genital mutilation since the introduction of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003; and what assessment he has made of the outcome of such interventions.

Parmjit Dhanda: holding answer 1 February 2007
	I have been asked to reply.
	The Department does not hold this information.

Neighbourhood Watch Schemes: Bristol, East

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Neighbourhood Watch schemes are in operation in Bristol, East constituency.

Vernon Coaker: The Home Office does not collect information on the number of Neighbourhood Watch schemes in England and Wales. However, Avon and Somerset Constabulary does gather this information and has informed me that in Bristol, East constituency there are 83 Neighbourhood Watch schemes, which cover approximately 3,000 households.

Police Community Support Officers

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police community support officers were assaulted whilst on duty in each of the last three years.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 22 January 2007
	The available data are given in the following table.
	
		
			  Police community support officers assaulted whilst on duty as at 31 March 2004 to 31 March 2006( 1) 
			  As of 31 March  Assaults (Headcount) 
			 2004 96 
			 2005 191 
			 2006(2) 272 
			 (1 )Financial year runs 1 April to 31 March inclusive. (2 )Excludes Thames Valley. Data not provided.

Prison Sentences

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average sentence length for  (a) foreign national and  (b) UK prisoners was in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2004-05; and what the average sentence length has been so far in 2006-07.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Information on the average sentence lengths of prisoners received into in prison establishments in England and Wales can be found in the following table.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system, and although shown to the last individual the figures may not be accurate to that level.
	
		
			  Average sentence length for those received into custody under a determinate sentence by year and nationality 
			   Average sentence length (in months) 
			  April 2004 to March 2005  
			 British nationals 14 
			 Foreign nationals 20 
			   
			  April 2005 to March 2006  
			 British nationals 14 
			 Foreign nationals 19 
			   
			  April 2006 to September 2006  
			 British nationals 13 
			 Foreign nationals 18

Prison Service

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff in the Prison Service London Area Office received bonus payments between April 2005 and March 2006; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: 12 staff in London Area Office received bonuses between April 2005 and March 2006.

Prisons

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convicted prisoners have absconded in each of the past five years; and for how long they absconded.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Information on the numbers of prisoners detained in prison establishments within England and Wales who have absconded can be found in the following table which has recently been published as table 10.10 in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library.
	Information on the length of time prisoners absconded for is not held centrally.
	
		
			  Table 10.10: Number of absconds, escapes and temporary release failures( 1) , England and Wales 
			   1996  1997  1998  1999( 2)  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			  Absconds 1,139 1,102 942 959 812 766 876 1,304 974 730 
			
			  Escapes   
			 from prison 42 23 24 32 12 14 9 11 10 3 
			 from prison escort 26 7 10 8 8 8 10 12 7 8 
			 from escort contractor 68 74 63 55 61 41 38 35 26 17 
			
			  Temporary release failures 442 568 483 539 318 278 315 363 403 339 
			 (1 )Statistics supplied by the Prison Service. (2 )Absconds figure revised from OMCS 2004.  Data Sources and Quality These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system, and so although shown to the last individual, the figures may not be accurate to that level. See Technical appendix of report for fuller information.

Prisons

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners absconded from Ford Prison in each month since 1 January 2006; what category of offences had been committed by each of those prisoners; what the term of the prison sentence was of each prisoner; on what date each escaped; on what date each was returned to prison; and what penalty each received as a consequence of absconding.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The number of prisoners who absconded from Ford prison in each month of 2006 is set out in the following table. Figures for April to December are subject to end of year confirmation as the Prison Service records these figures by financial year.
	Information on offences, sentence length recapture and subsequent penalties could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However Ford holds prisoners serving the full range of sentences up to and including life imprisonment, and for the full range of offences excluding sex offences.
	
		
			  Number of prisoners who absconded from Ford prison 
			  Each month of 2006  Absconds 
			 January 6 
			 February 8 
			 March 13 
			 April 5 
			 May 15 
			 June 4 
			 July 1 
			 August 2 
			 September 10 
			 October 6 
			 November 5 
			 December 5 
			 Total 80

Prisons

Michael Howard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many prison places were classed as crowded accommodation in each year since 1997;
	(2)  pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield of 7 November 2006,  Official Report, columns 1425-26W, on prisons, what proportion of the figure provided for  (a) increased prison capacity and  (b) planned additional prison places is accounted for by crowded accommodation; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 5 February 2007
	HM Prison Service does not collect data for the number of prison places classed as overcrowded accommodation. The table shows the monthly average number and proportion of prisoners held in crowded conditions, in each financial year since 1998-1999. HM Prison Service does not hold this data prior to 1 April 1998.
	Decisions have not yet been taken on crowding of future capacity. The 10,000 places announced by the Government are planned as uncrowded capacity.
	
		
			  Table 18836: Numbers held in crowded conditions. 
			   Numbers held in crowded conditions 
			 1998-99 1,2965 
			 1999-2000 1,2966 
			 2000-01 1,1281 
			 2001-02 1,2536 
			 2002-03 1,6723 
			 2003-04 1,7652 
			 2004-05 1,7839 
			 2005-06 1,8507 
			 2006-07(1) 1,9223 
			 (1) Provisional data based on YTD position at end December.

Prostitution

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department has taken to help women prostitutes who are victims of crime.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Addressing the increased risks of violent or sexual crime faced by those involved in prostitution in is a key element of the Government's co-ordinated prostitution strategy. Following the publication of the strategy, the Home Office has taken a number of steps to contribute to keeping women safe. These include:
	the 'Ugly Mugs' Campaign. This joint initiative with Crimestoppers sends out a clear message that violence against those involved in prostitution is a crime and will not be tolerated. It encourages the reporting of such crimes via Crimestoppers and the sharing of information between the police and local support projects so that women are made aware of 'dodgy punters' as quickly as possible;
	funding personal safety training. This safety training, developed and delivered by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, is tailored specifically to the needs of women involved in street-based prostitution and has been made available through specialist support projects across the country;
	encouraging the development of links between Sexual Assault Referral Centres and specialist projects in their areas to encourage women in prostitution to use them if they are the victims of crime;
	funding, through the Home Office Victims Fund, a new post in the specialist project in Doncaster to develop an advocacy role to support women who may be victims of crime. This will be used as the basis for the development of guidance on advocacy services which will be made available to all specialist projects;
	the development of training modules for the police to provide guidance on appropriate responses to crime against those involved in street prostitution and increased partnership between the police and specialist projects.

Serious Organised Crime Agency: Colombia

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps were taken to ensure that seconded UK Serious Organised Crime Agency personnel did not work with members of the Colombian Department of Administrative Security during Operation White Dollar, with particular regards to  (a) human rights abuses and  (b) collusion with paramilitaries; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: Operation White Dollar took place during 2004. The Serious Organised Crime Agency came into being on 1 April 2006. SOCA's co-operation with all overseas law enforcement partners is conducted in compliance with relevant UK law.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2006,  Official Report, columns 524-5W, on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, why the Consultation on Proposals for a UK Action Plan of January 2006, Annex A, page 21 states that the UK has ratified the Protocol to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 19 February 2007
	The indication in the consultation document, that the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography has been ratified, is inaccurate. As indicated in previous statements to Parliament, it is the intention of the Government to ratify the Optional Protocol and it is taking steps to commence the process of ratification as soon as possible.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how  (a) hon. Members and  (b) members of the public may submit comments on the draft guidelines on termination of pregnancy in Northern Ireland; and what changes the draft guidelines make to current practice.

Paul Goggins: The draft guidelines on termination of pregnancy are available on the Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) website. Hard copies were sent to interested parties for specific comment. There is no change in the law in NI and the document covers only the clinical aspects of this issue.
	DHSSPS assessed current practice through a suite of questionnaires sent to consultant obstetricians, midwives, GPs and Health and Social Services Trust Chief Executives in Northern Ireland to establish the level and extent of pre and post-abortion services and to invite views on what should be included in the guidance. The draft guidelines cover arrangements for good practice and seek to provide clarity around the issues of informed consent, conscientious objection and mental health issues within the law in NI.

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials were responsible for drafting the draft guidelines on termination of pregnancy in Northern Ireland; at what cost; whom they consulted; and which (i) organisations and (ii) individuals were asked to comment on the draft guidelines who are known to his Department to take (A) a pro-life and (B) a pro-choice view on abortion.

Paul Goggins: To develop guidance on termination of pregnancy in Northern Ireland, the Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) held a workshop in May 2005 to seek professional advice on areas and issues to be included in the guidelines. From this workshop, a working group was established to produce the draft guidelines. This group met in December 2005. Representatives were drawn from a wide range of professional and specialist backgrounds including nursing and midwifery, obstetrics and gynaecology, public health, psychiatry, clinical genetics, family planning doctors and general practitioners. The draft guidance produced by the group has been legally scrutinised by Senior Counsel on behalf of the Department. DHSSPS originally asked interested parties to send their comments to the Department by 16 March 2007, but given the level of correspondence and interest, this deadline is to be extended to 20 April 2007.

Bloody Sunday Inquiry

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects the public inquiry led by Lord Saville into the events in Londonderry in January 1972 to announce its findings.

David Hanson: The independent Bloody Sunday Inquiry has informed me that it is now engaged in compiling its final report, Due to the vast amount of evidence that must be considered this is a very time consuming process and it is difficult at this stage to be precise about when the report will be presented to the Secretary of State.

Departmental Expenditure

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent on  (a) new furnishings,  (b) art and  (c) new vehicles by (i) each Department in Northern Ireland and (ii) his Department in each of the last five years.

David Hanson: The information requested is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  £ 
			Fiscal years 
			  Department   2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006 to end January 2007 
			 Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Art — — — — — 
			  Furnishings 257,243 473,731 427,359 276,190 245,003 
			  Vehicles 276,346 170,430 109,225 233,161 5,575 
			 Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure Art — — — — — 
			  Furnishings 6,235 36,706 6,830 5,781 8,937 
			  Vehicles 192,081 85,869 11,986 29,374 70,864 
			
			 Department for Employment and Learning Art — — — — 1,000 
			  Furnishings 172,775 169,569 42,528 33,701 46,754 
			  Vehicles 19,000 — — — — 
			
			 Department of Education (NI) Art — — — — — 
			  Furnishings 17,030 85,258 63,222 36,761 33,527 
			  Vehicles — — — — — 
			
			 Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment Art — — — — — 
			  Furnishings 55,213 68,928 80,173 48,225 22,555 
			  Vehicles — — — 45,000 — 
			
			 Department of Finance and Personnel Art 30,000 30,000 28,000 19,000 22,000 
			  Furnishings 124,128 194,063 136,852 44,405 76,967 
			  Vehicles — 125,216 73,177 34,802 — 
			
			 Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety Art — — — — — 
			  Furnishings 216,571 81,189 71,144 53.161 79,984 
			  Vehicles — — 38,561 — — 
			
			 Department of the Environment Art — — — — — 
			  Furnishings 29,617 28,787 2,904 1,382 2,745 
			  Vehicles — — — — — 
			
			 Department for Regional Development Art — — — — — 
			  Furnishings 104,549 114,137 59,846 70,651 29,181 
			  Vehicles — — — — — 
			
			 Department for Social Development Art — — — — — 
			  Furnishings 44,127 46,844 261,642 133,740 30,693 
			  Vehicles — — — — — 
			
			 Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister Art 450 510 132 — 150 
			  Furnishings 69,737 81,222 27,904 17,803 3,222 
			  Vehicles — — — — — 
			
			 Northern Ireland Office Art — — — — — 
			  Furnishings 347,159 339,654 163,909 223,175 264,859 
			  Vehicles 3,660 — — — —

Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of the recommendations of the Patten Report in 1999 have been implemented.

Paul Goggins: The Policing Oversight Commissioner has reported that of the 175 recommendations detailed in the Patten Report 129 have been implemented. The Oversight Commissioner issues regular reports outlining the progress against the various recommendations and these are available at: www.oversightcommissioner.org
	In accordance with the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 copies of his reports are placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Londonderry

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total cost to the public purse was of the legal action undertaken by the city council in Londonderry regarding the name of the city.

Peter Hain: The court concluded that the Government and Derry city council should each pay their own costs. I do not yet have available details of the total cost to Government but will write to the hon. Gentleman with this information once it becomes available. I am not able to provide any information on the costs incurred by Derry city council.

Mental Health Services

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans there are to enhance the range of services and treatments available for people with depression in the Province.

Paul Goggins: Depression is a common disorder of varying severity, which can be treated by a range of services and treatments. Services can be accessed in community, primary and secondary care settings and range from self-help and peer support to specialist mental health in-patient services.
	The Bamford Review acknowledges that more could be done to prevent mental disorders and that there should be greater access to treatments other than medication. Taking forward the Bamford recommendations will be the key in enhancing access to a full range of services and treatments.

Muckamore Abbey Hospital

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the child safety implications of housing children with learning disabilities in close proximity to convicted sex offenders at Muckamore Abbey hospital.

Paul Goggins: The North and West Belfast Trust carried out a "Review of Policies and Procedures to Safeguard Children and Vulnerable Adults in Muckamore Abbey Hospital" in December 2005 and made a series of recommendations including risk assessments, supervision of patients and child protection. These recommendations have been implemented. Muckamore has its own Child Protection Committee which is supported by the North and West Belfast Trust Child Protection Panel. All staff receive child protection training as appropriate to their needs. Risk assessments are carried out as part of patient's care plans.
	While children at Muckamore are not currently at risk, the children in Conicar ward are being moved to a more appropriate location on the site. The action plan announced on 30 January 2007 will ensure that no children are accommodated in Muckamore Abbey hospital after 31 March 2009.

Post-mortems

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many autopsies were conducted in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years.

Paul Goggins: There are two types of post-mortem, consented hospital post-mortems and coroner post-mortems. Coroner post-mortems are conducted either by the State Pathology Department or in hospital. The total number of post-mortems for each of the last 10 years are detailed as follows:
	
		
			Coroner post-mortems  
			   Consented hospital post-mortems( 1)  Carried out in hospitals( 1)  Conducted by State Pathology Department( 2)  Total post-mortems 
			 1997 629 855 1,495 2,979 
			 1998 645 820 1,673 3,138 
			 1999 647 821 1,514 2,982 
			 2000 515 832 1,333 2,680 
			 2001 338 844 1,408 2,590 
			 2002 195 665 1,438 2,298 
			 2003 184 475 1,395 2,054 
			 2004 256 369 1,523 2,148 
			 2005 283 232 1,522 2,037 
			 2006 252 178 1,498 1,928 
			  Sources: (1) HPSS Trusts. (2) State Pathology Department Northern Ireland.

Terrorism

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether funding was provided by his Department for the McCord investigation and other similar investigations.

Peter Hain: The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland receives public funding to enable her to fulfil investigatory functions under Part VII of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998. Such funding would cover the McCord investigation and other similar investigations.

Terrorism

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the Government's plans are with regard to "on the runs"; and whether he has given assurances to any political party about "on the runs".

Peter Hain: In my letter to the hon. Gentleman of 1 November 2006 I made clear that while the Government continue to accept that the position of "on the runs" is an anomaly, and we believe that the anomaly will need to be addressed at some stage, we have no plans to bring forward any legislation on "on the runs", or to introduce an amnesty. In my letters of 1 November, I gave that assurance to the leaders of all the political parties involved in the St. Andrews talks, and that remains the Government's position.

Valuation and Lands Agency

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many photographs of domestic properties in Northern Ireland the Valuation and Lands Agency holds on its Photoviewer database.

David Hanson: 40,000 images are currently held under the Valuation and Lands Agency's photoviewer process.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Alternative Energy

Shahid Malik: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much Government money was spent on researching re-usable energy sources in  (a) the last year for which figures are available and  (b) 1997.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government spend on R and D on renewable energy is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   1997-98  2005-06 
			 Research councils (1)7 (1)15.8 
			 Government Department (DTI, DEFRA, DfT) 6.2 11. 8 
			 (1) Exceeds 
		
	
	The Research Councils also spent £16.6 million in 1997-98 and £20.6 million in 2005-06 on nuclear fusion research. They are also providing funding of £13.88 million over the period 2004-09 for the UK Energy Research Centre (which undertakes a range of research relating to sustainable and renewable energy) and £15.8 million over the period 2000-08 to the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change research (which includes some research on renewable energy). In addition the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils estimate that access for energy research to its facilities accounted for £4.5 million in 2005-06.
	The Government also fund the Carbon Trust, which provides support for research into low carbon energy activities amongst other activities.

Banks: Loans

Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to discourage lending by banks and other financial institutions to vulnerable people and those unable to make repayments.

Ian McCartney: The Government are keen to promote responsible lending as part of their strategy to minimise over-indebtedness. The Consumer Credit Act 2006 introduces a number of provisions that should encourage responsible lending. The Act will enable consumers to challenge unfair credit relationships and it makes specific provision for the Office of Fair Trading to take into account evidence of irresponsible lending in determining fitness to hold a consumer credit licence.
	It is important that lenders take proper account of an individual's credit history in taking decisions on whether to make further loans. We are currently exploring whether the opening up of information on accounts where lenders do not have the customer's express permission to share the data would help responsible lending. We are in the process of analysing the responses to a consultation on this and will report back shortly.
	In addition, the industry's own codes of practice include provisions on responsible lending. The Banking Code is currently under review and I have made it clear to the independent reviewer that I would like to see these provisions strengthened.

Business: EC Grants and Loans

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total value was of grants provided under the EU Frameworks Programme to UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in  (a) 2004,  (b) 2005 and  (c) 2006; and what the total value was of contributions to project costs made by those SMEs in each year.

Margaret Hodge: The European Commission is responsible for providing member states with data on the implementation of the Framework Programme. The Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) covered the years 2003 to 2007. The latest FP6 data provided by the European Commission cover all projects where a contract has been signed up to July 2006. These are, however, only interim figures. We expect the European Commission to provide more complete data on FP6 in the next two to three months.
	The data provided by the European Commission show that, in 2004, 303 contracts were signed for SME-specific projects involving UK small and medium-sized enterprises. These had an overall value of €51.1 million, with an EC contribution of €31.2 million.
	In 2005, 207 contracts were signed for SME-specific projects involving UK small and medium-sized enterprises. These had an overall value of €47.1 million, with an EC contribution of €27.9 million.
	The European Commission data for 2006 cover projects signed up to July 2006. Three contracts were signed for SME-specific projects involving UK small and medium-sized enterprises. These had an overall value of €0.81 million, with an EC contribution of €0.42 million.
	These figures represent funding of projects in the FP6 SME-specific programmes. The European Commission is not yet able to provide precise data for funding of SMEs in non-SME specific projects.

Business: EC Grants and Loans

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total value was of grants provided under the EU Frameworks Programme to UK companies which are not small and medium-sized enterprises in  (a) 2004,  (b) 2005 and  (c) 2006; and what the total value was of contributions to project costs made by those companies in each year.

Malcolm Wicks: The European Commission is responsible for providing member states with data on the implementation of the Framework Programme. The Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) covered the years 2003 to 2007. The latest FP6 data provided by the European Commission cover all projects where a contract has been signed up to July 2006. These are, however, only interim figures. We expect the European Commission to provide more complete data on FP6 in the next two to three months.
	The data provided by the European Commission show that, in 2004, 437 contracts were signed for projects involving UK companies that are not small and medium-sized enterprises. These had an overall value of €171.1 million, with an EC contribution of €84.6 million.
	In 2005, 436 contracts were signed for projects involving with UK companies that are not small and medium-sized enterprises. These had an overall value of €165.7 million, with an EC contribution of €89.0 million.
	The European Commission data for 2006 cover projects signed up to July 2006. 72 contracts were signed involving UK companies that are not small and medium-sized enterprises. These had an overall value of €41.5 million, with an EC contribution of €13.6 million.

Carbon Emissions

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to reduce the carbon emissions associated with the generation of grid electricity.

Jim Fitzpatrick: All emissions related to the production, distribution and consumption of electricity are capped under the European Union Emissions Trading scheme (EU ETS). Last summer the UK announced its tight cap under EU ETS Phase II, which will result in reductions over the period 2008-12 of 29 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO2) against projected "business as usual" emissions.
	In order to help generators to achieve these reductions, the Government use a number of policy instruments directed at both energy supply and demand. These include the renewables obligation to incentivise renewable forms of generation, R and D support for developing low carbon technologies (e.g. through the forthcoming Energy Technologies Institute), domestic energy efficiency measures (such as the Energy Efficiency Commitment), and support for business energy efficiency (for example, through the work of the Carbon Trust).

EC Law: Exceptions

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the UK is seeking an extension of the exceptions to EU Council Directive 80/181 beyond 2009  (a) in respect of (i) road traffic signs, (ii) distance and speed measurements, (iii) draught beer, cider and milk, (iv) land registration and (v) precious metals and  (b) in respect of the printing of imperial measurements alongside metric measurements.

Ian McCartney: The European Commission has recently published a consultation on proposed changes to the Units of Measurement Directive (80/181/EEC), and in particular on whether the use of non-metric units as supplementary indications alongside metric measurements should continue to be permitted after 31 December 2009. The Government believe that the continued use of supplementary indications is necessary to allow for the dual labelling of products placed on both metric and non-metric markets. They therefore intend to express support for the continued use of supplementary indications after 2009 for an indefinite period.
	In its paper the Commission also seeks the views of market operators on the operation of derogations for imperial units for specific purposes. These are the mile for road traffic signs, distance and speed measurements, the pint for the dispense of draught beer and cider and milk in returnable containers, the acre for land registration and the troy ounce for transactions in precious metals. The Government have no plans to end these derogations and there is no end date set out in Directive 80/181/EEC. The Government's view, which it will be expressing to the Commission, is that as these derogations have no adverse effect on trade between member states their future use should be determined by the individual member states that make use of them.

Exports: Philippines

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to encourage increased UK exports to the Philippines.

Ian McCartney: The UK enjoys very good trade and investment relations with the Philippines. We actively support high level visitors to and from the Philippines to build on our strong relationship. The Duke of York visited the Philippines in November 2006. In his role as UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment he held discussions on a wide range of bilateral trade and investment issues. During a visit to the UK in September 2006, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines addressed a major trade and investment audience of over 500 participants. The Philippines Minister for Trade and Industry and Minister of Energy also visited the UK in September 2006.
	UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) staff at the British Embassy in Manila continue to provide British companies with the full range of HMG's services to British exporters and companies seeking to trade and invest in the Philippines. The Embassy organised a British week in 2006 to promote and support the work of UK companies based in the Philippines.
	UKTI also supports the work of the Philippines British Business Council.
	The UK welcomes the discussion in the EU of draft negotiating mandates for a potential Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Association of South East Asian Nations. We recognise the benefits that FTAs may bring if they are deep and comprehensive agreements that take full account of development issues and are complementary to the multilateral process. Our top priority remains an ambitious and pro-development outcome to the Doha Development Agenda. This will bring the greatest benefit to the widest range of constituents.

Higher Education: EC Grants and Loans

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total value was of grants provided under the EU Frameworks Programme to UK universities in  (a) 2004,  (b) 2005 and  (c) 2006; and what the total value was of contributions to project costs made by those universities in each year.

Malcolm Wicks: The European Commission is responsible for providing member states with data on the implementation of the Framework Programme. The Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) covered the years 2003 to 2007. The latest FP6 data provided by the European Commission cover all projects where a contract has been signed up to July 2006. These are, however, only interim figures. We expect the European Commission to provide more complete data on FP6 in the next two to three months.
	The data provided by the European Commission show that, in 2004, 1,257 contracts were signed for projects involving UK participants from the higher education sector. These had an overall value of €398.6 million, with an EC contribution of €364.5 million.
	In 2005, 1,314 contracts were signed for projects involving UK participants from the higher education sector. These had an overall value of €419.6 million, with an EC contribution of €392.7 million.
	The European Commission data for 2006 cover projects signed up to July 2006. 422 contracts were signed involving UK participants from the higher education sector. These had an overall value of €121.26 million, with an EC contribution of €121.0 million.

MG Rover

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the  (a) Business Development Service and  (b) Advantage West Midlands; and what plans his Department has to assist the remaining unemployed ex-MG Rover employees.

Margaret Hodge: The Department of Trade and Industry, Government Office for the West Midlands and Advantage West Midlands are unaware of the Business Development Service and are therefore unable to comment on the effectiveness of this programme.
	 Advantage West Midlands
	To monitor the effectiveness of regional development agencies (RDAs), the Government introduced a common framework as targets in 2002 had helped to create or safeguard. Since its inception Advantage West Midlands (AWM) more than 100,000 jobs; assisted more than 40,000 businesses; and reclaimed more than 1,000 hectares of brownfield land. These output results, are evidence that AWM is playing a valuable role in the region's economic performance.
	The Government announced in Budget 2005 that, an independent assessment, conducted by the National Audit Office (NAO) would be introduced for the RDAs during 2005-06. The Independent Performance Assessment report on Advantage West Midlands by the National Audit Office is expected to be published later this month.
	 MG Rover
	The response to the collapse of MG Rover has been excellent. 6,346 former MG Rover and supply chain employees registered with Job Centre Plus, having been made redundant following the collapse of the company. Over 90 per cent. (5,648) have now found new jobs. Of the remaining ex-workers, 358 are claiming Job seeker's allowance and 340 are claiming incapacity benefit/income support or pension credit.
	Advantage West Midlands, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and Birmingham city council working in partnership have in place a number of initiatives to assist the remaining unemployed employees from MG Rover and its suppliers.

Nuclear Decommissioning

Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment his Department has made of fluctuating revenues for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on  (a) the supply chain in nuclear communities,  (b) the competition process for nuclear decommissioning in the UK,  (c) near term work plans and life cycle baseline plans of nuclear facilities awaiting decommissioning and  (d) future delivery of nuclear policy at a local and national level.

Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer to the answer which I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Copeland (Mr. Reed) on 26 January 2007,  Official Report, column 2064W.

Oil: Reserves

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what his Department's policy is on the peak oil concept; and what planning his Department has undertaken on the basis of estimates of oil reserves in  (a) 25,  (b) 50 and  (c) 100 years time.

Jim Fitzpatrick: As the International Energy Agency notes in its 2005 publication, "Resources to Reserves—Oil and Gas Technologies for the Energy Markets of the Future", the key problem is not the limit of geological oil resources. It states:
	"The hydrocarbon resources around the world are sufficiently abundant to sustain likely growth in the global energy system for the foreseeable future".
	Rather, the challenge lies in bringing these resources to market in a way that ensures sustainable, timely, reliable, and affordable supplies of energy. While market mechanisms will help provide the incentives for the development of these resources, as well as low carbon technologies, Governments need to take appropriate action—internationally and domestically—in support of this, and also to promote energy efficiency.

Post Office Card Accounts

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people use the Post Office Card Account for receipt of  (a) child benefit and  (b) basic state pension in Hemel Hempstead constituency; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: I understand from Post Office Ltd. (POL) that they do not capture information on which customers are making visits to post offices or their withdrawal patterns.

Regional Development Agencies: Manpower

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many full-time equivalent staff are employed by each regional development agency in England.

Margaret Hodge: The following information is set out according to the most recent regional development agency annual reports for year ending 31 March 2006. Copies of these reports are placed in the Library of the House and are available on the internet. The website addresses for the agencies are also shown.
	The figures shown are the average number of staff employed by each agency during the year.
	
		
			   Number 
			 Advantage West Midlands (AWM) 341 
			 www.advantagewm.co.uk  
			   
			 East of England Development Agency (EEDA) 189 
			 www.eeda.ora.uk  
			   
			 East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA) 225 
			 www.emda.org.uk  
			   
			 London Development Agency (LDA) 432 
			 www.lda.gov.uk  
			   
			 North West Development Agency (NWDA) 378 
			 www.nwda.co.uk  
			   
			 One North East (ONE) 418 
			 www.onenortheast.co.uk  
			   
			 South of England Development Agency (SEEDA) 342 
			 www.seeda.co.uk  
			   
			 South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA ) 277 
			 www.southwestrda.org.uk  
			   
			 Yorkshire Forward (YF) 352 
			 www.yorkshire-forward.com

Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which banks are participating in the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme; how many applications for a loan each has received; and how many applications were approved in  (a) 2004,  (b) 2005 and  (c) 2006.

Margaret Hodge: The following table shows the number of Small Firms Loan Guarantee (SFLG) loans for each of the approved lenders for the financial years 2003-04 and 2004-05, the two full financial years prior to the changes recommended by the Graham Review which were implemented in December 2005.
	Details of SFLG lending following those changes will be published in the SFLG annual report in summer 2007.
	As all loans guaranteed by SFLG are subject to the lenders' commercial decision-making processes the Department only holds information on guarantees issued and not on cases in which the lenders consider the use of SFLG inappropriate.
	
		
			  Lender  2003-04  2004-05 
			 Barclays Bank 611 718 
			 Nat West Bank 1,509 2,094 
			 HSBC 1,165 1,606 
			 Bank of Scotland 852 468 
			 Royal Bank of Scotland 541 472 
			 Clydesdale Bank 39 74 
			 Co-Operative Bank 6 3 
			 Yorkshire Bank 11 25 
			 Bank of Ireland 19 17 
			 Northern Bank 3 5 
			 Ulster Bank 18 5 
			 First Trust Bank 2 5 
			 Northern Investors 0 0 
			 Yorkshire Enterprise 1 0 
			 Donbac 0 0 
			 One London 0 0 
			 UK Steel Enterprise 3 5 
			 Venture Finance 24 76 
			 Lloyds TSB 1,157 1,540 
			 Emerging Business Trust 1 0 
			 State Securities 3 4 
			 Triodos Bank 0 9 
			 Northern Enterprise 1 4

Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many loans were issued by each of the banks participating in the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme in  (a) 2004,  (b) 2005 and  (c) 2006.

Margaret Hodge: I refer to the answer given to parliamentary question No. 119835 answered today.

Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many loans have been issued by each of the participating banks in the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme since the scheme came into existence.

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 8 February 2007
	Please see the following table detailing the number of Guarantees issued by each of the lenders in the 11 years from the earliest available records (1994-95) to the last full financial year prior to the implementation of the Graham Review changes (2004-05).
	
		
			  Lender  Total number of Guarantees 
			 Barclays Bank 10,428 
			 Nat West Bank 11,482 
			 HSBC 13,316 
			 Bank of Scotland 3,982 
			 Royal Bank of Scotland 3,307 
			 Clydesdale Bank 437 
			 Co-Operative Bank 140 
			 Yorkshire Bank 206 
			 Bank of Ireland 163 
			 Northern Bank 110 
			 Ulster Bank 134 
			 First Trust Bank 51 
			 Northern Investors 4 
			 Yorkshire Enterprise 152 
			 Donbac 89 
			 One London 2 
			 UK Steel Enterprise 17 
			 Venture Finance 159 
			 Lloyds TSB 14,732 
			 Emerging Business Trust 3 
			 State Securities 8 
			 Triodos Bank 11 
			 Northern Enterprise 6 
			 Investors in Industry (3i) 77

South West Regional Development Agency

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which sites the South West Regional Development Agency  (a) owns and  (b) rents.

Margaret Hodge: I understand the South West of England Regional Development Agency owns the following sites:
	Plots 3 and 6 Temple Quay, Bristol
	Bristol Arena site
	1-9 Bath Road, Bristol
	Locking Parklands
	SPark site, Bristol
	15/16 Feeder Road, Bristol
	Osprey Quay, Portland
	Bournemouth Hotel School
	Winterbourne Hotel, Bournemouth
	Treleigh Industrial Estate, Redruth
	Cattlemarket site, Penzance
	Helston Business Park
	Beacon Technology Park, Bodmin
	St. Austell Town Centre scheme
	Brunei Business Park, St. Austell
	TA Centre, Falmouth
	Trevol Industrial Estate, Torpoint
	Plots 5,6,10 and 11 Bickland Industrial Estate, Falmouth
	Fire Station site, St. Austell
	Land at Treliever Cross, Penryn
	First bus site, Penzance
	Plymouth International Medical and Technology Park
	Former Baton's factory, Estover,Plymouth
	Land at Exeter Road, Okehampton
	Royal William Yard
	Stonehouse Creek Community Centre Car Park, Plymouth
	Renwick House and Harbour House sites, Paignton
	Independent Resource Centre, Plymouth
	Land at Winkleigh Airfield
	Former fire station site, Crediton
	Littlecombe, Dursley
	Land and premises at Gloucester Docks
	4 and 6 and 27-29 Commercial Road, Gloucester
	Fleece Hotel and Westgate Street properties, Gloucester
	Northern United site, Cinderford
	Barbican Car Park, Gloucester
	Morlands site, Glastonbury
	Former Western Woodcraft factory, Frome
	Land at Tidworth Road, Ludgershall
	ABRO site, Warminster
	Land at Indian Queens
	Bugle Industrial Estate
	Land at Falmouth Business Park
	Land at Saltash Parkway
	Wilson Way Industrial Estate, Pool, Redruth
	Water ma Trout Industrial Estate, Helston
	Threemilestone Industrial Estate, Truro
	Long Rock Industrial Estate, Penzance
	Guildford Road Industrial Estate, Hayle
	Land at Cardrew Industrial Estate, Redruth
	St. Dennis Industrial Estate, St. Austell
	Cooksland Industrial Estate, Bodmin
	Land at Callywith Gate, Bodmin
	St. Columb Major Business Park
	Land at Delabole
	School Close workshops, St Columb Minor
	Tolvaddon Energy Park, Camborne
	Bridon Ropes premises, Falmouth
	Derriford Business Park, Plymouth
	Station Road Industrial Estate, Halwill Junction
	Land at Shebbear
	Pitts Cleave Business Park, Tavistock
	Uffculme workshops
	Land at Witheridge
	Beran Instruments factory, Torrington
	Exeter Innovation Centre
	Barns Close Industrial Estate, Dulverton
	Old Coalyard Industrial Estate, Northleach
	Princess Royal Industrial Estate, Bream
	North Dorset Business Park, Sturminster Newton
	Castle House, Truro
	 Sites Rented:
	Sterling House, Exeter
	Merck House, Poole
	Berkeley House, Exeter
	North Quay House, Plymouth
	100 Temple Street, Bristol
	East Reach House, Taunton
	Arco 2 premises, Bodmin

HEALTH

Abortions: East Sussex

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many abortions were performed in  (a) Eastbourne and  (b) East Sussex in 2005-06.

Caroline Flint: Information about abortions performed on residents of  (a) Eastbourne and  (b) East Sussex in 2005 is published by primary care trust in Statistical Bulletin 2006/01, "Abortion Statistics, England and Wales: 2005", a copy of which is available in the Library. The bulletin can also be found on the Department of Health website at:
	http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/13/68/59/04136859.pdf
	Data for 2006 will be published in the summer.

Acute Hospitals

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how her Department defines an acute hospital;
	(2)  whether hospitals must have  (a) major operating theatres,  (b) accident and emergency facilities,  (c) intensive care units,  (d) high dependency units,  (e) a status of district or regional importance,  (f) a minimum size of 35,000 square metres and  (g) substantial general wards in order to be defined as an acute hospital by her Department;
	(3)  whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the minimum level of services which must be provided by a hospital in order for it to be defined as an acute hospital;
	(4)  whether the definition of acute hospitals used by her Department is the same as that used by the Valuation Office Agency;
	(5)  which body is responsible for determining the definition of an  (a) acute hospital and  (b) the list of those hospitals so designated.

Andy Burnham: The Department maintains no official definition of acute hospital and is aware of no body with the responsibility to define it.
	The term acute hospital is included in the statutory name of some national health service trusts but is not defined in legislation.
	Section 128(1) of the NHS Act 1977 defines a hospital as any institution for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from illness, any maternity home and any institution for the reception and treatment of persons during convalescence or persons requiring medical rehabilitation. Beyond this it does not specify what kind of services a hospital has to provide.
	The Department does not specify or assess the kinds of facilities a hospital must have in order to be defined as an acute hospital.

Ambulance Services

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what conditions primary care trusts are permitted to attach to contracts with ambulance trusts in respect of the  (a) operation and  (b) funding of (i) first responder, (ii) co-responder and (iii) other non-ambulance based first response to Category A and B call-outs in rural and island communities.

Andy Burnham: First responders complement and support the ambulance response to emergencies by providing basic life support until front-line ambulance staff arrive at the scene, but are not a substitute for an emergency ambulance response.
	The Department has issued no specific guidance about community first responder or co-responder schemes to primary care trusts. However, national health service ambulance trusts have been directed to continue first responder schemes in existence on 1 July 2006 for as long as there are specific volunteers to maintain the scheme and the trust considers, having regard to all relevant considerations including appropriateness of clinical care and costs, that it is appropriate to do so.
	Guidance on performance reporting issued by the Information Centre (Ambulance Services, England, annual statistical bulletins) and available in the Library, states that first responders are an approved initial emergency response to category A calls provided that they are equipped with a defibrillator, despatched by and accountable to the ambulance service. NHS ambulance trusts are also expected to ensure that the training, clinical governance and operation of such schemes complies with relevant legislation and Government guidance.

Bournemouth Hospital: Alcoholic Drinks

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many casualties were admitted to Bournemouth Hospital due to drink-related injuries in 2006.

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not centrally collected.

Carbon Emissions

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when her Department began to measure its carbon emissions; what the volume of those emissions was in the last period for which figures are available; when her Department started to offset those emissions; what the cost is expected to be of offsetting her Department's emissions; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Carbon emitted due to the Department's use of energy in its buildings has been calculated since 1999-2000. In 2005-06 the total emissions from our London administrative estate were 1,808,162 kgC (this figure has been weather corrected). Since April 2006 all central Government official and ministerial air travel has been brought within offsetting schemes. In 2006 the Department's CO2 emissions from air travel amounted to 1,287,017 kgC. At present estimates the cost of offsetting these emissions will be about £13,000.
	Along with other Government Departments, this Department is committed to achieving carbon neutrality in its London administrative estate by 2012, as set out in the new energy targets published in May 2006. These targets are designed to deliver a step change sustainability improvement in the way Government manage their land and buildings, and to demonstrate that Government should lead by example on tackling dangerous climate change. We already purchase 100 per cent. of our energy from renewable sources, and are currently working with the Carbon Trust and others to minimise our overall energy use. We are also taking measures (such as video conferencing) to encourage staff to reduce their travel. Carbon emissions from unavoidable energy consumption will be offset from 2012.
	These emission figures relate only to the Department's main London estate. The Department also occupies a building in Leeds, where the major occupier is Department of Work and Pensions, and another building in London where the major occupier is HM Revenue and Customs. In both these buildings the cost of utilities such as gas, electricity and water are included in the rental, and we do not have details of the actual consumption incurred in those parts of the building occupied by departmental staff. Where we do not have direct control over utilities we nevertheless do whatever we can, such as by encouraging our staff to save energy, to reduce the overall CO2 emissions from these buildings.

Carbon Monoxide

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent in each Government office region on raising awareness of carbon monoxide amongst home owners in 2005-06.

Anne McGuire: I have been asked to reply.
	This information is not available in the format requested. However, some information is available on national initiatives as follows:
	£27,024 was spent by the Health and Safety Executive on dealing with enquiries through its Gas Safety Advice Line and HSE Infoline;
	£16,000 funding towards CO-GAS Safety was provided by Department of Health and a further £13,332 on a new leaflet for the public available within GP surgeries in England;
	The Chief Medical Officer issued an update on carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning to all doctors registered with the General Medical Council in England;
	Domestic gas safety was added to 'The Home Fire Risk Check' initiative of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, (now Communities and Local Government). This led to a number of fire services installing free CO alarms and drawing attention to gas safety issues when making home visits.
	Most recently, following a call from the Government, the gas industry has agreed to renewed action on co-ordinated publicity to raise further awareness of gas safety risks in the home.

Christmas Tree

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health why there was no official Christmas tree at Richmond House for the 2006 Christmastide.

Ivan Lewis: There were two official Christmas trees at Richmond House for the 2006 Christmastide.

Clostridium Difficile

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  Clostridium difficile infections there have been in England in each year since 1997.

Ivan Lewis: The Health Protection Agency receives reports from microbiology laboratories of cases of  Clostridium difficile infections under the voluntary and mandatory schemes.
	Data from the voluntary surveillance scheme for England from 1999 to 2005 are shown in the following table. It is not clear how much of the increase in the number of reports is due to increased awareness, better testing techniques and improved reporting of cases, or to an actual rise in  Clostridium difficile incidences.
	
		
			   Number of cases 
			 1999 17,279 
			 2000 18,812 
			 2001 20,064 
			 2002 26,357 
			 2003 33,201 
			 2004 40,401 
			 2005(1) 46,501 
			 (1) Provisional totals  
		
	
	In addition to collection of voluntary reporting, mandatory surveillance of  Clostridium difficile associated disease in adults aged 65 and over, by all acute national health service trusts in England, began in January 2004. The annual totals of  Clostridium difficile associated disease in adults aged 65 and over have been published, and were 44,107 cases in 2004 and 51,690 cases in 2005.
	 Source
	Trend in total reports of  Clostridium difficile:
	www.hpa.org.uk/.../topics_az/clostridium_difficile/c_diff_reports_isolated_faecal_specimens_england_W.htm
	2. Mandatory surveillance of healthcare associated infections report 2006:
	www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/hai/MandSurvHCAI2006.pdf

Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust: Waiting Lists

Alan Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time was for  (a) in-patient,  (b) day cases and  (c) out-patient appointments in Darlington Memorial hospital in each year since 1992.

Andy Burnham: The information requested is available at trust-level only. Median waiting times for the County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals National Health Service Trust and its predecessor trusts are set out in the following tables. The first data available for the Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust are for 1994.
	
		
			  Provider based median waiting times: 1994-98, Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust 
			Median waiting time (weeks) 
			  Month ending  Year  Inpatient ordinary  Inpatient day case  Outpatient 
			 June 1994 18.6 16.6 5.3 
			 March 1995 15.8 13.0 5.3 
			 March 1996 11.0 10.8 6.3 
			 March 1997 10.9 11.3 7.1 
			 March 1998 12.0 12.5 4.2 
		
	
	
		
			Median waiting time (weeks) 
			  Month ending  Year  Inpatient ordinary  Inpatient day case  Outpatient 
			 March 1999 12.5 10.2 6.2 
			 March 2000 12.8 10.3 6.7 
			 March 2001 11.2 7.7 5.1 
			 March 2002 12.6 8.9 4.8 
			 March 2003 10.9 8.1 4.3 
		
	
	
		
			Median waiting time (weeks) 
			  Month ending  Year  Inpatient ordinary  Inpatient day case  Outpatient 
			 March 2004 10.6 9.0 5.6 
			 March 2005 8.9 6.5 6.5 
			 March 2006 6.9 5.4 4.7 
			 September 2006 7.5 5.5 4.3 
			 December 2006 7.4 5.0 n/a 
			  Notes: Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust was established in April 1994. It merged with Bishop Auckland Hospital NHS Trust in April 1998 and took over aspects of community services to form South Durham Healthcare NHS Trust  South Durham Healthcare merged with North Durham Healthcare NHS Trust in October 2002 following the Darzi review. Inpatient waiting time based on median wait of those still waiting at end of period. Outpatient waiting times based on time waited for those seen during the quarter.  Source:  Department of Health, KH07 and QMO8s

Diagnostics

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 17 October 2007,  Official Report, column 1163W, on diagnostic tests, where the sites are which strategic health authorities and primary care trusts have confirmed they will require services.

Andy Burnham: The London and West Midlands phase two diagnostic schemes have had sites finalised. The location of sites for the remaining schemes are subject to further negotiation.
	In London, it is expected that there will be 46 activity delivery locations of which 25 are finalised:
	1. Tower Hamlets (London Independent hospital)—fixed site
	2. Tower Hamlets (London Independent hospital)—mobile site
	3. City and Hackney (John Scott Health Centre)—fixed site
	4. City and Hackney (John Scott Health Centre)—mobile site
	5. City and Hackney (St. Leonard's hospital)—fixed site
	6. City and Hackney (St. Leonard's hospital)—mobile site
	7. Newham (Appleby Health Centre)—fixed site
	8. Newham (The Centre)—fixed site
	9. Redbridge (North Middlesex hospital)—mobile site
	10. Barnet (Barnet MRI Centre)—fixed site
	11. Barnet (Garden hospital)—fixed site
	12. Enfield (Kings Oak hospital)—fixed/mobile site
	13. Camden/Islington (London Imaging Centre)—fixed site
	14. Camden/Islington (Kings Cross Walk-in Centre)—fixed site
	15. Blackheath (Blackheath hospital)—fixed site
	16. Beckenham (The Sloane hospital)—fixed site
	17. Inner London (The London MRI Centre)—fixed site
	18. Inner London (Central Middlesex ACAD)—fixed site
	19. Outer London (Northwick Park hospital)—fixed site
	20. Outer London (Northwick Park hospital)—mobile site
	21. Outer London (Clementine Churchill hospital)—fixed site
	22. Outer London (Bishops Wood hospital)—mobile site
	23. Croydon (Mayday hospital)—fixed site
	24. Croydon (Shirley Oaks hospital)—fixed site
	25. Croydon (Shirley Oaks hospital)—mobile site
	Services will be provided in the West Midlands from mobile diagnostic centres. Sixteen out of an expected 49 sites have now been finalised:
	1. Ledbury (Ledbury RFC)
	2. Hereford (Merton Meadow)
	3. Oswestry (Gobewen Road Car Park)
	4. Ludlow (South Shropshire Leisure Centre)
	5. Nuneaton (North Warwickshire and Hinckley College)
	6. Ross-on-Wye (Homs Care Park)
	7. Wolverhampton (Molineux Stadium)
	8. Smethwick (Warley Rugby Club)
	9. Castle Vale (Sutton Coldfield RFC)
	10. Stoke on Trent (N) (Port Vale FC)
	11. Walsall/Bloxwich (Walsall FC)
	12. West Bromwich (West Bromwich Albion FC Tom Silk Building)
	13. Stafford (Mid Staffordshire General hospital)
	14. Worcester (S) (County Cricket Club)
	15. Leek (Leek Town FC)
	16. Dudley (Village Hotel)

Health Services: Elderly

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what response she has made to the recommendation made by Sir Derek Wanless in his report of March 2006, "Securing Good Care for Older People", that elderly care should receive an increase in funding equal to one per cent. of gross domestic product;
	(2)  what assessment she has made of the likely impact of the expected increase in the over 85-year-old population on demand for elderly care; and what steps her Department plans to take to meet this demand.

Ivan Lewis: The number of older people, particularly those aged over 85, is expected to rise sharply over coming years with significant implications for public services, such as long-term care for the elderly. Recent reports from Derek Wanless for the King's Fund, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and others have made important contributions to the debate around the future of social care provision, which will also be informed by individual budgets, partnerships for older people projects, direct payments and the In Control programme. In assessing proposals, as part of the long term vision of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, the Government will consider whether they are affordable, whether they are consistent with progressive universalism and whether they promote independence, dignity, well-being and control in line with "Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People", the White Paper "Our Health, Our Care, Our Say" and the national service framework for older people.
	The Department commissioned the personal social services research unit (PSSRU) at the London School of Economics to produce projections of demand for long-term care for older people. Their latest projections are set out in PSSRU Research Summary 35 which is available at www.pssru.ac.uk, and in the Wanless social care report.

Hearing Impaired: Sight Impaired

Edward O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what proportion of people over the age of  (a) 65,  (b) 75 and  (c) 85 have a dual sensory impairment;
	(2)  what assessment she has made of the effect of the Single Assessment Process for older people with dual sensory impairments;
	(3)  what procedures are in place to require that Commission for Social Care inspections will ensure that elderly deafblind people are offered  (a) assessments by people suitably qualified or experienced in dual sensory impairment and  (b) appropriate packages of care;
	(4)  what assessment she has made of the value for money offered by social services provision for elderly people with dual sensory impairments;
	(5)  what estimate she has made of the projected numbers of deafblind people over 65 who will require services over the next 10 years; and what assessment she has made of the impact this will have on future social care planning.

Ivan Lewis: Information on the proportion of people over the age of 65, 75 and 85 who have a dual sensory impairment is not held centrally.
	In the context of developing the White Paper "Our health, our care, our say", we are considering the scope for developing a single, holistic health and social care needs assessment process for all client groups including deafblind people. It is likely that the framework provided by the single assessment process would provide the basis for developing a common assessment framework (CAF) that would be applicable to adults more generally.
	There are currently a range of national assessment processes in place across health and social care, including:
	single assessment process for older people;
	the care programme approach for people with mental health difficulties; and
	person-centred planning for people with a learning disability.
	The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) inspects all local authority social services departments and publishes star ratings on their performance which are available on its website at www.csci.org.uk. It is for local authorities to ensure that assessments are carried out by appropriately trained and experienced staff, cover the full range of needs presented by individuals, including dual sensory impairment, and result in appropriate packages of care.
	We would expect local authorities to establish value for money offered by social services for older people with dual sensory impairments. We do not hold this information centrally and have therefore made no assessments of it.
	We have made no estimate of the projected numbers of deafblind people over 65 who will require services over the next 10 years or what impact this will have on future social care planning.

Homeopathy: Finance

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the future of funding of homeopathic treatment on the NHS.

Caroline Flint: The Government consider that decision-making on individual clinical interventions, whether conventional, or complementary/alternative treatments, have to be a matter for local national health service providers and practitioners as they are best placed to know their community's needs. In making such decisions, they have to take into account evidence for the safety and clinical and cost-effectiveness of any treatments, the availability of suitably qualified practitioners, and the needs of the individual patient. Clinical responsibility rests with the NHS professional who makes the decision to refer and who must therefore be able to justify any treatment they recommend. If they are unconvinced about the suitability of a particular treatment, they cannot be made to refer.

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she has taken to tackle hospital-acquired infections since May 2006.

Ivan Lewis: Reducing healthcare associate infections, including meticillin resistant  Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and  Clostridium difficile is one of the four top development priorities in the operating framework for 2007-08 published in December 2006. In addition to the existing target to halve MRSA blood stream infections by 2008 the operating framework also sets out the requirement for new local targets to significantly reduce  Clostridium difficile infections.
	In October 2006 a new statutory code of practice for the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections was published. The Healthcare Commission, will assess compliance with the code as part of its annual health check process and has a new power to issue an improvement notice to a national health service body that in its view, is not properly observing the code.
	A joint professional letter of 7 December 2006 announced a capital challenge fund of £50 million, £300,000 for each acute trust, for this year to help trusts tackle healthcare associated infections.

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what expenditure the Government have made available in each year since 1997 to combat healthcare associated infections in NHS hospitals; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Tackling healthcare associated infections is part of national health service mainstream activity and funded from mainstream resources.
	However, in December 2006 we made available £50 million, £300,000 for each acute trust, through the capital challenge fund for capital investment this year to help to tackle healthcare associated infections.

Hospitals: Parking

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was raised from parking fees by each health authority in Chorley constituency in each of the last five years.

Andy Burnham: The information requested is shown in the table.
	The figures provided represent the gross income received from parking fees paid by staff and visitors, at national health service organisations in Chorley constituency where information is available.
	
		
			  £ 
			   Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust( 1)  Preston Acute Hospitals NHS Trust( 2)  West Lancashire Primary Care Trust 
			 2001-02 — 395,479 5,952 
			 2002-03 627,549 — 9,000 
			 2003-04 924,927 — 0 
			 2004-05 969,886 — 17,394 
			 2005-06 1,288,080 — 19,053 
			 (1) Established 2002-03. (2) Merged to form Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in 2002-03.  Note: The information is as provided by NHS organisations without amendment. Since 2004-05, it has been provided on a voluntary basis and may therefore be incomplete.

Ministerial Code

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions in each year since 1997 her Department's accounting officer has indicated that a course of action being considered would breach the requirements of propriety and regularity as set out in section 3.3 of the Ministerial Code.

Ivan Lewis: None.

Modernising Hearing Aid Service

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what funding has been provided for the Modernising Hearing Aid Service for the digital switchover in each year; and what funding she provided for this purpose in 2007-08;
	(2)  what factors were taken into account when deciding that expenditure by health bodies on digital hearing aids should be as capital rather than revenue funding.

Ivan Lewis: £125 million was invested in audiology services between 2000-01 and 2004-05 through the modernising hearing aid services programme. In 2005-06 £12 million revenue and £26 million capital was allocated to national health service trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) for audiology services as part of the general allocations.
	In 2006-07 revenue allocations for audiology services were included in the strategic health authority (SHA) bundle. The Department allocated approximately £5.5 billion to SHAs as a single bundle of budgets, with the aim being to give SHAs as much flexibility as possible in the management of funding and delivery of services. It was the responsibility of individual SHAs to decide, in consultation with local stakeholders, how best to deploy the funding. "The NHS in England: Operating Framework for 2007-08" confirmed that there will be another SHA bundle of central revenue budgets for 2007-08 with a proposed value is £6,945.8 million. The bundle will be supplemented by a service level agreement between the Department and SHAs. This agreement will include details of the services to be provided from the bundle. Decisions about funding levels for audiology services will need to be taken locally, with consideration given to the need to have sufficient direct access activity to substantially reduce waits.
	In 2006-07 £26 million capital was allocated to NHS trusts and PCTs for their audiology services. A new capital regime has been put in place from 2007-08 under which NHS trusts can draw down as much capital as they can afford to service, rather than having it allocated to them. The new guidance for trusts, "New Capital Regime for NHS Trusts" was issued on 13 December 2006. PCTs capital allocation arrangements remain unchanged in 2007-08 with a significant increase in the resources that are allocated formulaically for investment by the sector. This increase in resources to PCTs has removed the need to allocate additional capital specifically for many initiatives, including audiology.
	The modernisation of audiology services through the modernising hearing aid service programme required the NHS to purchase new packages of equipment to carry out the assessment and fitting of digital hearing aids. Digital hearing aids were funded from capital allocations on the basis that they were part of these packages of equipment that was classified as capital assets.

Netcare

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the provision by Netcare to cover claims for clinical negligence; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: The clinical negligence scheme for trusts (CNST) handles clinical negligence claims against member national health service bodies.
	Where independent providers are providing services to NHS patients through the independent sector treatment centre programme, the same arrangements of CNST coverage for clinical negligence will apply as they do where an NHS patient is treated at an NHS trust.

NHS Foundation Trusts

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the evidential basis is for her Department's statement that  (a) NHS foundation trusts are more likely to demonstrate innovative thinking than other NHS organisations,  (b) foundation trusts are accountable to local people and  (c) the financial autonomy of NHS foundation trusts brings about improved financial management and rigour.

Andy Burnham: There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that performance and responsiveness has improved across the national health service foundation trust (NHSFT) sector. Independent case studies and assessments presented by the Foundation Trust Network Monitor (the statutory name of which is the independent regulator of NHS foundation trusts) and the Healthcare Commission (the statutory name of which is the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection) show that operational freedoms are allowing NHSFTs to meet the aspirations of service users by improving services, and in some cases innovating new approaches to patient care more quickly than as an NHS trust.
	The 58 NHSFTs now in existence are operating to a new framework which improves local accountability more than ever before. They have over 620,000 members drawn from the public, patients and staff and approximately 1000 patient and public governors. The numbers involved and degree of engagement suggests that NHSFTs are taking their local accountability obligations seriously and engaging effectively with members and governors. As organisations continue to mature and increase in numbers, we can expect membership and the role of governors to become firmly embedded in NHSFTs. Monitor's published quarterly assessments confirm that NHSFTs are delivering a good financial performance and demonstrating financial rigour. The Healthcare Commission's annual healthcheck which compares performance of all NHS organisations also showed that NHSFTs out-performed non-NHSFTs on use of resources and quality of services.

NHS Partners Network

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  which individuals are members of the NHS Partners Network;
	(2)  how many complaints she has received from members of the NHS Partners Network on alleged breaches of procurement rules since 2005.

Andy Burnham: The network is formed from independent companies who provide healthcare services for National health service patients. The companies currently listed on the network's website at www.nhspartnersnetwork.com are:
	Alliance Medical Ltd.
	Amicus Healthcare (part of General Healthcare Group)
	BUPA Hospitals Ltd.
	Capio Healthcare UK
	Clinicenta Ltd.
	Mercury Health
	Nations Healthcare Ltd.
	Netcare Healthcare UK Ltd.
	Nuffield Hospitals
	Partnership Health Group
	UKSH Ltd.
	The Department is unaware of any complaints from members concerning alleged breaches of procurement rules.

Nuisance Behaviour

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how she defines nuisance behaviour as it is used in her Department's consultation entitled 'Tackling nuisance and disturbance behaviour on NHS healthcare premises';
	(2)  how many incidents of nuisance behaviour have been reported on NHS healthcare premises in each of the last five years;
	(3)  what safeguards are being considered to protect those whose behaviour is considered nuisance behaviour on NHS healthcare premises but which is symptomatic of a medical condition or due to a disability.

Rosie Winterton: Nuisance is not defined in the proposed legislation but it is assumed that it is an ordinary word of the English language. It will be a matter of fact for the courts to decide whether an offence has been committed under the proposals.
	Figures on the number of incidents of this type of behaviour are not yet collected centrally. However, the Department's consultation paper asked for information on this subject and the full report can be found on the Department's website. The final regulatory impact assessment, to be published with any draft legislation, will contain more detailed information on this.
	The principal safeguard will be contained in the primary legislation, which will state that a person seeking medical treatment will not be able to commit the offence. Further safeguards are being developed and discussed with stakeholders.

Out-patients: Waiting Lists

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of patients on outpatient waiting lists were seen within 13 weeks in each year since 1990, as recorded by  (a) the Korner waiting time statistics and  (b) the Hospital Episodes Statistics database.

Andy Burnham: The information is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Percentage of patients who waited under 13 weeks for an outpatient appointment(provider based) 
			  Financial year  Number of patients who waited under 13 weeks  Percentage of patients 
			 1993-94 2,697,581 81.8 
			 1994-95 6,321,515 82.6 
			 1995-96 6,311,638 83.4 
			 1996-97 6,331,756 83.7 
			 1997-98 6,273,500 82.4 
			 1998-99 5,969,049 79.2 
			 1999-2000 5,840,630 75.8 
			 2000-01 6,071,005 76.5 
			 2001-02 6,188,853 77.2 
			 2002-03 6,282,564 77.8 
			 2003-04 6,494,666 80.3 
			 2004-05 6,674,428 83.6 
			 2005-06 7,400,791 91.4 
			 2006-07 3,768,209 97.7 
			  Notes: No outpatient data was collected before December 1993. Therefore, the percentage for 1993-94 is based on data from two quarters. Similarly, as only the first two quarters data have been published for 2006-07, this percentage is also based on data from two quarters. Outpatient waiting times data is not available from Hospital Episode Statistics. Source: Department of Health, QMO8s

Parliamentary Questions

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many parliamentary questions were tabled to her Department in 2006, broken down by  (a) ordinary written and  (b) named day; what percentage of ordinary written questions were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage of named day questions were answered by the specific date.

Ivan Lewis: In 2006, 7,811 ordinary written questions and 1,756 named day questions were tabled to the Department. We answered 44 per cent. of ordinary written questions within 10 working days and answered 51 per cent. of named day questions on the day specified.
	Departments aim to ensure that Members receive a substantive response to their named day questions on the named day and endeavour to answer ordinary written questions within a working week of being tabled. Unfortunately, this is not always possible but this Department makes every effort to achieve these timescales.

Patient Feedback

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of each scheme to register feedback from patients was in 2005-06.

Andy Burnham: The Department funded a survey of people to explore their choice preferences around general practitioner (GP) services and GP practices conduct surveys of patients' experience to support the quality and outcomes framework. These surveys cost £32 million and £40 million respectively in 2005-06. The Department paid the £179,500 cost of the patient opinion website in the financial year 2005-06.
	The Healthcare Commission administers a national patient survey programme which collects and analyses feedback from patients about their experience of healthcare services. In 2005-06, the Healthcare Commission had a budget of £475,000 for a national health service patient survey advice centre to support its programme and estimates that the typical cost of conducting a survey was around £4,000 for each NHS trust and £3,500 for each mental health trust.

Public Opinion Research

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much her Department has spent on commissioning public opinion research in each of the last five years.

Ivan Lewis: The Department does not collect this information centrally.
	However public opinion research commissioned by the Department's Communications Directorate is as follows. This should be regarded as an indicative guide on spend only.
	
		
			  £ 
			 2004-05 169,414 
			 2005-06 152,195 
			 2006-07(1) 144,400 
			 Total 466,009 
			 (1) To December 2006  Note: This updates the figure given in the answer of 3 January 2006,  Official Report, column 161W, which gave a figure of £364,425.74 for 2004-05. This included spend on media evaluation which is not classed as public opinion research. 
		
	
	NHS Connecting for Health commissioned public opinion research is as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2005-06 5,500

Renewable Energy

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much energy consumed by her Department is acquired from renewable sources;
	(2)  when she will answer question 106143, tabled by the hon. Member for Wealden on 23 November 2006.

Ivan Lewis: The Department has been purchasing green electricity since 2001-02. Since 2004-05 100 per cent. of the electricity for our London administrative estate has been purchased from renewable sources. This is a substantially better performance than the Government target required, which was that 10 per cent. of electricity should be from renewable sources.
	The Department's overall performance on energy consumption is set out in the annual "Sustainable Development in Government" report.
	The response relates only to the Department's main London estate. The Department also occupies a building in Leeds where the major occupier is the Department of Work and Pensions. We understand that all the energy purchased for that building is also from renewable sources. A further building occupiedby departmental staff in London is managed by a private sector landlord and the information is not available.

Surgery: Foreign Workers

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many visiting surgeons from Sweden carried out knee operations in NHS hospitals in Somerset in each of the last five years; how much they were paid; and how many operations they performed.

Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not collected centrally.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Child Care

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to implement the agreements reached at the Barcelona European Council in 2002; and what percentage of children  (a) between three and six years old and  (b) under three years old he estimates will have access to childcare by 2010.

Beverley Hughes: The Government continue to implement the agreement of the Barcelona European Union Council in March 2002 to strive, in line with national patterns of provision, to provide by 2010 child care for at least 90 per cent. of children between three years and mandatory school age, and at least 33 per cent. of children under three years of age.
	Currently all three and four-year-olds have the offer of a free part-time education place of 12.5 hours a week, and by 2010 this entitlement will have increased to 15 hours of free, flexible early years provision a week.
	Survey results indicate that 35 per cent. of children under three in England were in formal child care in 2004. The new duties on local authorities to assess (from April 2007) the sufficiency of child care and (from April 2008) to secure sufficient child care in their areas will help to ensure that by 2010, child care places are available for all parents of children under three who want them.

Child Care

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will commission comparative research into the cost of child care in the UK and other European Union member states; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: The Department has no current plans to commission comparative research into the cost of child care in the UK and other European Union member states.
	The Department commissions two national series of surveys which collect data on the costs of child care for parents, the fees that providers charge parents and the cost of providing child care for providers. These surveys provide detailed information, on a regular basis, on the cost of child care in England.
	Meaningful cross-national comparisons of the costs of child care to parents are extremely difficult due to differences in how child care support is funded between countries and differences in household incomes levels. Organisations such as The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have attempted this for OECD countries, which include a number of EU member states and a recent study by Immervoll and Barber (2005) can be found at:
	http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/58/23/35862266.pdf.

Child Care

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of steps taken by his Department in the last five years to assist families in meeting the costs of child care for pre-school children in  (a) Chorley,  (b) Lancashire and  (c) the North West.

Beverley Hughes: We recognise that child care costs are an issue for many parents and we are doing more than ever to make good quality child care and early education accessible and affordable.
	Since April 2004 all three and four-year-olds have been entitled to 12.5 hours per week of free, early education. Latest figures for January 2006 show that virtually all four-year-olds and 96 per cent. of three-year-olds benefit from some free provision, thus considerably reducing overall child care costs for parents.
	The number of families accessing the child care element of the working tax credit (WTC) at December 2006 has increased to 396,000 nationally. This is a 30 per cent. increase on the 304,000 families accessing this element in 2004/05. Take up for the same period in the North West has increased from 46,000 to 61,000, an increase of 33 per cent. For 2004/05, 8,500 families accessed this element of the WTC in Lancashire with 800 of these families living in Chorley.
	The 2004/05 Study of Parents, Use Views and Experiences of using child care found that 23 per cent. of parents found it difficult or very difficult to afford child care compared with 52 per cent. who found it easy or very easy. This compares favourably with the 2001/02 Parent Demand Survey which found that 35 per cent. of parents found it difficult or very difficult to meet costs.
	No wider assessment of the effectiveness of assisting families with child care costs is available for Chorley, Lancashire or the North West at present.

Child Care

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress the Government have made towards the targets within their 10-year child care strategy; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: We have made substantial progress in delivering our programme to transform early years and child care services outlined in the 10-year child care strategy: "Choice for Parents, the Best Start for Children".
	We are ahead of schedule on meeting, by 2010, the strategy's centrepiece commitments to establish a multi-agency Sure Start children's centre for every community, and ensure that every primary and secondary school is an extended school, offering access to a range of enriching and high quality out of school hours activities.
	There are now over 1,060 children's centres in the most disadvantaged areas, serving around 850,000 children. More than 3,800 schools (one in six of the total) are now providing access to the full extended services core offer (including child care), and we exceeded our target of 2,500 schools doing so by September 2006.
	We are also doing more than ever before to make good quality child care and early education accessible and affordable. The number of registered child care places across the country continues to rise. We have already met our child care places growth PSA target for 2008; and delivered on our commitments to increase the free nursery education entitlement to 38 hours per week from 2006; and to extend the tax credit support for child care costs (now running at around £2 million per day), by increasing the limits, from 2005, and the proportion of costs that can be claimed, from 2006.
	We have also legislated to take forward, and give statutory force to, key elements of the strategy. The Childcare Act 2006—the first legislation to be devoted to early years and child care—includes new duties, operational from 2008, to improve the outcomes of all children under five, close the gaps between groups with the poorest outcomes and other children; and to secure sufficient child care for working parents, or those looking to move into work.
	The Act also reforms and simplifies the regulatory framework for early years and child care, including establishing a new single framework for learning and development for children under five—the early years foundation stage—which will be introduced from 2008.
	The Work and Families Act 2006 includes new measures to extend maternity pay from six to nine months from 2007, and a power to introduce additional paternity leave for fathers.

Child Care

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many child care places were  (a) opened and  (b) closed in each year since 2004.

Beverley Hughes: The available information is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Number of child care places opened and closed 2004-06, England 
			   2004/05  2005/06  March-December 2006 
			 Opened 254,100 214,800 157,400 
			 Child minders 53,000 48,800 37,000 
			 Full day care 117,600 90,900 68,400 
			 Out of school 83,500 75,200 52,000 
			 
			 Closed 200,800 144,600 128,200 
			 Child minders 63,000 44,800 37,900 
			 Full day care 65,600 48,700 41,800 
			 Out of school 72,200 51,100 48,500 
			 
			 Net Steady State Changes(1) +19,200 +8,900 +7,700 
			 Child minders +6,300 +2,100 +2,200 
			 Full day care +9,600 +5,600 +4,300 
			 Out of school +3,300 +1,200 +1,100 
			 
			 Net change +72,600 +79,100 +36,900 
			 (1) The Net Steady State refers to registered providers whose registration status has not changed, but whose number of places has fluctuated over the period in question.  Source: Ofsted 
		
	
	Ofsted data on closures include registered places in settings which are transferring ownership, and in settings which move from one Ofsted category to another, not just in those which are ceasing trading.
	Ofsted have produced figures on the numbers of registered child care providers and places on a quarterly basis from March 2003. Their latest figures were published in their report "Registered Childcare Providers and Places, December 2006", which is available on their website: www.Ofsted.gov.uk/

Civil Servants: Termination of Employment

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which  (a) senior personnel and  (b) special advisers have left his Department to work in (i) education-related businesses and (ii) lobbying since 1997; and what steps are taken to ensure the relevant period between periods of employment under Cabinet Office guidance is adhered to.

Parmjit Dhanda: Information about the Business Appointment Rules issued by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, are set out in the Civil Service Management Code and included in all contracts of employment, including those of special advisers. The rules are drawn to the attention of staff and all staff leaving the Department are subject to them. A list of all Business Appointment applications considered by Advisory Committee is published in the Committee's annual report, copies of which can be obtained from the Library.
	The further information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost, and would reveal individual identities.

Class Sizes

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size was for each age group in each local education authority in  (a) 2000 and  (b) 2001.

Jim Knight: Information on class size by age group is not collected centrally.
	The available information relating to the national curriculum year group of classes is shown in the following table. The figures provided include maintained primary schools only. Equivalent data for maintained secondary schools are only available from 2001 onwards.
	
		
			  Maintained primary schools( 1) : average class size by year group of pupils( 2)  by local authority area and government office region in England, January 2000 
			   Taught by 1 Teacher 
			Reception  Year group 1  Year group 2  Year group 3  Year group 4  Year group 5  Year group 6  Year group 7  Mixed year group  Total 
			   England 24.8 26.6 21.8 28.6 28.8 28.6 27.9 28.0 26.6 27.1 
			 
			   North East 24.6 25.1 26.7 27.8 28.3 27.3 26.6 0.0 25.1 26.2 
			 841 Darlington 25.8 26.5 26.9 30.5 31.5 29.9 29.6 0.0 28.5 28.5 
			 840 Durham 24.8 26.3 25.9 28.5 29.3 27.5 27.4 0.0 26.1 26.6 
			 390 Gateshead 24.8 25.3 24.9 27.5 27.8 27.8 26.6 0.0 24.8 25.7 
			 805 Hartlepool 25.0 26.6 26.5 27.9 29.0 27.7 27.6 0.0 26.9 26.8 
			 806 Middlesbrough 24.9 26.3 25.5 27.7 28.1 26.4 26.0 0.0 26.8 26.5 
			 391 Newcastle upon Tyne 25.5 26.2 26.7 28.3 28.0 28.3 27.2 0.0 25.8 26.9 
			 392 North Tyneside 25.0 25.5 25.5 28.5 28.8 26.4 27.9 0.0 26.2 26.7 
			 929 Northumberland 24.0 26.1 26.4 28.1 29.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 24.2 25.4 
			 807 Redcar and Cleveland 24.2 27.4 26.0 27.9 28.8 26.9 25.4 0.0 26.4 26.4 
			 393 South Tyneside 24.3 24.8 25.3 27.7 27.0 27.5 25.9 0.0 22.4 25.8 
			 808 Stockton-on-Tees 24.2 24.8 26.6 27.4 27.4 27.7 26.7 0.0 25.5 25.9 
			 394 Sunderland 22.7 23.6 24.4 26.1 26.8 26.1 24.8 0.0 23.9 24.9 
			 
			   North West 24.8 25. 26.3 28.9 29.4 28.9 28.0 1.0 26.4 27.1 
			 889 Blackburn with Darwen 26.7 27.8 28.8 30.3 30.2 29.0 30.8 0.0 29.1 28.8 
			 890 Blackpool 26.5 26.8 28.0 30.0 32.7 31.5 31.6 0.0 27.6 29.4 
			 350 Bolton 24.4 24.9 27.6 29.2 29.0 30.4 27.8 0.0 26.2 27.6 
			 351 Bury 24.6 24.8 25.1 29.9 30.6 29.7 29.4 0.0 26.7 27.3 
			 875 Cheshire 25.1 26.2 26.4 28.4 29.5 29.0 28.1 0.0 26.2 26.8 
			 909 Cumbria 23.5 25.1 24.6 28.1 27.4 26.8 26.0 0.0 24.2 25.2 
			 876 Halton 23.0 22.8 23.9 27.7 29.7 29.5 27.6 0.0 26.1 26.0 
			 340 Knowsley 26.2 26.0 26.5 28.5 27.9 27.5 27.7 0.0 27.5 27.2 
			 888 Lancashire 25.6 26.8 26.7 30.0 30.4 29.6 29.2 0.0 26.7 27.7 
			 341 Liverpool 25.3 25.4 26.2 27.8 27.8 27.2 26.1 1.0 25.0 26.3 
			 352 Manchester 24.6 26.1 26.8 27.7 28.7 28.3 27.8 0.0 27.1 27.4 
			 353 Oldham 25.1 26.6 26.6 30.0 30.2 30.2 29.3 0.0 27.3 28.0 
			 354 Rochdale 26.2 26.8 27.7 29.7 29.9 29.6 29.0 0.0 27.7 28.3 
			 355 Salford 23.9 25.6 25.1 27.8 28.1 28.1 27.8 0.0 26.3 26.5 
			 343 Sefton 24.7 25.8 26.8 28.4 29.6 29.9 28.4 0.0 25.8 27.4 
			 342 St. Helens 23.0 27.2 25.9 29.4 29.8 28.8 28.7 0.0 25.8 27.3 
			 356 Stockport 25.1 25.6 25.3 30.2 30.7 29.7 27.1 0.0 27.0 27.0 
			 357 Tameside 25.3 27.0 27.6 29.6 29.7 29.4 27.7 0.0 27.7 27.9 
			 358 Trafford 24.4 27.1 26.8 30.0 30.2 29.0 28.6 0.0 26.4 27.4 
			 877 Warrington 25.1 27.2 27.2 28.9 30.0 27.9 27.9 0.0 28.0 27.5 
			 359 Wigan 23.0 23.9 24.7 29.3 29.6 28.7 28.1 0.0 27.1 26.6 
			 344 Wirral 24.2 23.7 26.0 27.1 28.1 28.2 26.4 0.0 26.0 26.0 
			 
			   Yorkshire and the Humber 24.3 28.2 26.7 28.4 28.9 28.6 27.9 0.0 27.0 27.2 
			 370 Barnsley 21.2 26.0 26.5 30.7 30.8 29.8 29.4 0.0 29.2 28.1 
			 380 Bradford 26.6 26.9 27.1 28.2 28.1 28.3 26.6 0.0 27.9 27.6 
			 381 Calderdale 25.1 26.4 25.4 27.4 28.0 27.9 27.6 0.0 27.6 26.8 
			 371 Doncaster 26.5 26.2 26.9 28.1 29.1 28.2 27.7 0.0 28.0 27.6 
			 811 East Riding of Yorkshire 24.6 26.8 26.6 28.8 28.7 29.2 28.9 0.0 26.7 27.4 
			 810 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 22.8 25.8 26.5 28.9 29.0 29.0 29.2 0.0 28.3 27.7 
			 382 Kirklees 25.0 26.5 26.0 28.7 30.3 30.0 26.6 0.0 28.1 27.6 
			 383 Leeds 25.3 26.6 26.9 28.4 28.4 28.0 28.8 0.0 27.4 27.5 
			 812 North East Lincolnshire 23.7 26.0 26.2 27.5 28.7 28.1 27.3 0.0 27.0 27.0 
			 813 North Lincolnshire 22.5 26.1 26.1 28.9 28.9 28.5 27.5 0.0 26.7 26.9 
			 815 North Yorkshire 24.2 24.6 26.1 28.1 29.7 28.7 27.3 0.0 25.0 25.8 
			 372 Rotherham 19.9 25.7 25.9 28.0 28.6 28.5 27.1 0.0 26.6 26.5 
			 373 Sheffield 23.8 26.3 27.0 28.3 28.1 27.0 27.5 0.0 25.9 27.0 
			 384 Wakefield 21.9 26.4 28.7 28.9 30.4 29.3 28.7 0.0 29.0 28.2 
			 816 York 23.2 25.9 25.9 27.1 27.7 29.6 27.4 0.0 26.5 26.4 
			 
			   East Midlands 23.9 28.4 26J 28.8 29.2 29.3 28.3 0.0 27.2 27.4 
			 831 Derby 24.6 25.6 25.9 29.9 30.7 29.8 30.5 0.0 29.1 28.1 
			 830 Derbyshire 25.1 26.9 27.1 31.3 31.0 31.1 29.9 0.0 278 28.3 
			 856 Leicester 24.0 26.1 26.0 26.6 28.2 28.3 25.9 0.0 26.8 26.8 
			 855 Leicestershire 23.9 26.4 26.6 27.0 28.4 29.0 27.5 0.0 26.4 26.7 
			 925 Lincolnshire 24.8 26.8 27.4 29.0 28.8 28.7 27.7 0.0 27.2 27.3 
			 928 Northamptonshire 25.0 26.3 26.7 28.2 28.1 27.8 27.0 0.0 26.4 26.8 
			 892 Nottingham 20.3 24.8 26.0 28.2 29.1 28.8 28.3 0.0 26.7 27.0 
			 891 Nottinghamshire 20.5 26.5 26.5 29.4 29.8 30.0 29.4 0.0 27.6 27.8 
			 657 Rutland 20.3 25.0 24.5 24.2 28.7 29.8 26.4 0.0 24.9 24.9 
			 
			   West Midlands 24.8 26.2 26.3 28.2 28.8 28.1 27.4 24.6 26.4 26.9 
			 330 Birmingham 26.5 26.9 26.7 28.0 28.3 27.5 27.0 0.0 25.4 27.2 
			 331 Coventry 24.0 25.1 26.5 26.8 29.0 28.6 27.8 0.0 28.0 26.8 
			 332 Dudley 25.1 25.8 24.7 27.6 27.1 26.2 26.2 0.0 26.5 26.4 
			 884 Herefordshire 22.4 24.6 25.5 27.2 30.2 29.2 27.8 0.0 23.6 25.3 
			 333 Sandwell 26.6 25.6 25.4 29.8 29.4 28.8 28.4 0.0 278 27.7 
			 893 Shropshire 20.1 25.2 25.8 28.7 28.2 28.6 28.1 0.0 25.9 26.0 
			 334 Solihull 26.5 27.1 27.7 29.1 30.1 28.6 27.9 0.0 22.3 27.8 
			 860 Staffordshire 23.4 25.8 25.8 27.7 28.6 28.2 27.0 0.0 27.2 26.6 
			 861 Stoke-on-Trent 24.1 24.3 24.7 27.2 29.2 28.1 26.8 0.0 25.6 26.3 
			 894 Telford and Wrekin 20.5 26.2 27.0 30.0 30.3 30.5 27.5 0.0 28.3 27.5 
			 335 Walsall 24.6 26.1 26.6 28.8 29.5 28.7 27.9 0.0 26.8 27.0 
			 937 Warwickshire 25.5 26.7 26.4 28.5 29.3 29.0 28.5 0.0 27.1 27.5 
			 336 Wolverhampton 24.3 28.2 28.0 28.8 28.0 27.2 27.2 0.0 23.8 27.0 
			 885 Worcestershire 24.9 26.3 27.2 27.7 28.7 28.8 28.3 24.6 26.0 26.8 
			 
			   East of England 24.3 28.7 26.8 28.4 28.4 28.6 28.0 26.9 26.4 26.8 
			 820 Bedfordshire 24.5 25.6 25.0 27.9 27.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 25.4 26.1 
			 873 Cambridgeshire 25.7 27.3 27.5 29.3 29.8 29.8 29.6 0.0 28.1 28.0 
			 881 Essex 24.1 27.0 27.4 28.8 28.7 28.7 28.2 0.0 27.6 27.4 
			 919 Hertfordshire 24.0 27.5 27.5 28.8 29.1 29.0 27.8 0.0 26.5 27.1 
			 821 Luton 30.9 25.8 26.3 26.8 26.8 26.2 25.7 0.0 27.2 27.0 
			 926 Norfolk 24.3 26.2 26.4 28.7 27.6 28.3 28.8 25.9 24.9 25.9 
			 874 Peterborough 25.5 26.3 25.7 27.5 27.4 29.6 27.2 0.0 27.5 27.0 
			 882 Southend-on-Sea 25.7 27.0 28.3 29.6 30.0 28.7 28.3 0.0 27.3 28.0 
			 935 Suffolk 21.8 26.0 26.4 27.0 27.0 26.5 26.2 0.0 24.3 24.9 
			 883 Thurrock 22.6 25.3 26.3 27.7 28.4 29.4 29.0 0.0 27.6 26.9 
			 
			   London 26.0 27.6 27.5 28.2 28.2 27.9 27.5 26.2 26.0 27.3 
			   Inner London 26.3 27.5 27.3 27.7 27.8 27.3 27.0 0.0 26.0 26.9 
			 202 Camden 27.7 28.7 27.2 27.7 27.1 27.5 26.4 0.0 26.5 27.1 
			 201 City of London 0.0 0.0 30.0 29.0 0.0 29.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 26.3 
			 204 Hackney 25.9 27.2 27.6 28.2 27.6 27.5 26.1 0.0 25.9 26.6 
			 205 Hammersmith and Fulham 22.4 26.9 27.4 28.1 28.5 27.5 27.8 0.0 22.7 26.3 
			 309 Haringey 28.0 28.1 27.5 27.6 28.1 28.0 27.6 0.0 25.3 27.7 
			 206 Islington 26.1 27.6 27.8 27.9 28.1 27.1 27.3 0.0 26.7 27.1 
			 207 Kensington and Chelsea 25.2 27.9 26.9 26.4 27.0 25.3 25.8 0.0 26.6 26.2 
			 208 Lambeth 26.1 27.5 26.7 27.0 27.1 26.9 26.3 0.0 24.1 26.2 
			 209 Lewisham 26.7 27.3 27.2 28.2 28.0 26.9 26.4 0.0 26.6 26.8 
			 316 Newham 27.1 28.2 28.5 29.3 29.1 28.8 28.9 0.0 28.1 28.4 
			 210 Southwark 25.8 27.7 27.5 27.3 27.3 26.9 26.8 0.0 26.2 26.7 
			 211 Tower Hamlets 26.8 27.1 26.7 27.5 27.7 27.5 27.1 0.0 26.3 26.8 
			 212 Wandsworth 26.2 26.2 25.8 25.8 26.9 26.3 26.0 0.0 26.1 26.1 
			 213 Westminster 22.4 26.6 26.6 26.6 26.7 25.8 25.9 0.0 25.8 25.6 
			 
			   Outer London 28.8 27.7 27.6 28.5 28.5 28.3 27.8 26.2 25.9 27.4 
			 301 Barking and Dagenham 26.0 27.2 26.8 27.0 27.7 27.4 27.0 0.0 24.9 27.0 
			 302 Barnet 26.7 27.8 27.4 27.6 27.6 26.9 26.0 0.0 26.0 27.1 
			 303 Bexley 27.0 27.2 28.4 28.4 29.3 30.1 29.0 0.0 28.2 28.3 
			 304 Brent 27.3 27.6 27.7 27.6 26.9 27.0 27.8 0.0 26.8 27.4 
			 305 Bromley 27.2 28.3 25.4 30.7 30.0 29.8 29.4 0.0 23.2 27.7 
			 306 Croydon 27.4 27.3 27.4 28.9 29.0 28.8 27.6 0.0 26.0 27.8 
			 307 Ealing 25.8 26.9 26.2 28.0 28.5 28.6 27.2 0.0 25.7 26.9 
			 308 Enfield 28.1 28.6 29.6 29.6 28.7 29.7 28.7 0.0 23.5 28.7 
			 203 Greenwich 20.5 26.1 26.5 27.9 26.8 26.4 27.1 0.0 26.9 25.9 
			 310 Harrow 26.7 28.1 28.3 28.4 30.0 29.1 30.4 26.2 24.1 27.4 
			 311 Havering 26.6 28.7 28.2 28.6 27.9 27.9 28.4 0.0 28.0 27.9 
			 312 Hillingdon 21.9 25.4 26.0 27.5 28.1 27.5 26.7 0.0 25.0 26.4 
			 313 Hounslow 26.7 28.5 27.3 28.5 27.6 26.7 26.4 0.0 23.1 27.1 
			 314 Kingston upon Thames 25.0 30.8 30.2 29.3 29.6 29.9 29.0 0.0 30.3 28.9 
			 315 Merton 21.9 29.1 29.7 26.4 29.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 25.0 26.7 
			 317 Redbridge 27.3 27.6 28.2 29.9 29.9 29.5 29.0 0.0 27.0 28.5 
			 318 Richmond upon Thames 26.8 29.4 28.2 27.5 27.3 27.0 27.0 0.0 22.9 27.3 
			 319 Sutton 22.2 26.7 27.4 30.2 30.1 28.7 27.8 0.0 24.5 27.4 
			 320 Waltham Forest 21.9 27.6 28.4 28.2 27.7 28.0 27.5 0.0 28.1 27.0 
			 
			   South East 24.8 27.1 27.2 28.6 28.9 28.8 28.1 26.3 26.9 27.3 
			 867 Bracknell Forest 20.8 27.0 26.4 28.1 29.1 28.6 28.9 0.0 27.0 27.2 
			 846 Brighton and Hove 25.3 28.1 28.5 29.9 29.8 29.1 29.8 0.0 26.6 28.2 
			 825 Buckinghamshire 22.6 25.1 25.0 28.6 29.1 29.1 28.4 11.0 26.0 26.6 
			 845 East Sussex 25.7 27.0 26.9 30.5 31.0 30.7 31.3 0.0 27.0 28.2 
			 850 Hampshire 26.4 27.9 28.4 28.5 29.0 29.1 28.4 0.0 27.6 28.0 
			 921 Isle of Wight 22.0 24.7 25.4 27.1 28.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 25.4 25.3 
			 886 Kent 25.2 27.8 28.0 29.1 29.4 29.1 28.8 0.0 26.7 27.7 
			 887 Medway 25.0 26.5 27.3 28.8 29.1 29.4 27.4 0.0 25.7 27.2 
			 826 Milton Keynes 23.2 26.8 26.3 25.8 28.6 28.4 28.1 26.4 26.9 27.0 
			 931 Oxfordshire 20.4 25.4 26.3 28.3 29.1 29.2 28.0 0.0 27.0 26.8 
			 851 Portsmouth 25.4 27.2 27.4 28.5 29.2 29.3 27.6 0.0 24.7 27.5 
			 870 Reading 20.1 25.9 26.0 26.9 28.5 29.0 27.5 0.0 27.7 26.8 
			 871 Slough 21.5 26.3 25.3 27.8 27.4 26.6 25.3 0.0 21.3 25.7 
			 852 Southampton 27.3 26.3 27.3 28.5 28.5 29.3 28.4 0.0 25.1 27.6 
			 936 Surrey 26.2 27.4 26.9 28.1 28.1 27.1 26.3 0.0 26.3 27.0 
			 869 West Berkshire 18.2 25.3 25.6 27.9 27.5 27.7 25.4 0.0 25.3 25.5 
			 938 West Sussex 24.4 27.5 27.2 28.4 27.7 28.2 28.3 26.7 27.5 27.3 
			 868 Windsor and Maidenhead 18.7 25.8 25.9 27.7 27.6 30.1 27.0 0.0 27.4 26.5 
			 872 Wokingham 22.8 27.1 26.3 29.8 29.3 30.3 30.1 0.0 28.5 28.2 
			 
			   South West 24.8 27.1 27.1 29.0 29.4 29.5 29.4 21.6 26.6 27.3 
			 800 Bath and North East Somerset 23.9 26.6 27.5 28.2 27.6 29.5 29.2 0.0 26.6 27.1 
			 837 Bournemouth 25.6 30.5 28.2 30.5 28.7 30.0 30.0 0.0 28.8 28.9 
			 801 Bristol, City of 25.8 27.3 27.0 28.2 28.7 28.3 27.6 0.0 26.7 27.3 
			 908 Cornwall 24.0 27.4 27.1 30.2 30.7 30.8 31.0 0.0 26.0 27.3 
			 878 Devon 23.2 26.2 26.6 28.3 29.4 29.5 29.2 22.8 26.3 26.5 
			 835 Dorset 23.6 25.3 25.3 28.7 29.9 29.3 29.2 0.0 25.4 26.4 
			 916 Gloucestershire 25.3 27.9 28.2 28.7 29.0 29.4 28.6 1.0 26.4 27.3 
			 420 Isles of Scilly 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 16.7 16.7 
			 802 North Somerset 25.3 28.0 28.0 29.3 28.9 29.2 29.4 0.0 28.8 28.3 
			 879 Plymouth 24.8 26.6 25.2 29.0 29.3 29.1 29.4 1.0 26.9 27.3 
			 836 Poole 27.2 29.3 30.0 29.7 31.3 30.2 30.3 26.4 27.1 28.3 
			 933 Somerset 25.5 27.0 27.8 29.3 28.9 29.5 29.6 0.0 27.3 27.6 
			 803 South Gloucestershire 25.8 27.2 26.8 29.4 29.8 28.8 30.0 0.0 26.9 27.7 
			 866 Swindon 25.5 27.5 28.1 29.0 30.0 30.6 29.0 0.0 27.3 28.0 
			 880 Torbay 25.0 27.7 26.4 28.6 30.5 30.6 30.3 0.0 27.4 27.9 
			 865 Wiltshire 23.9 26.2 26.5 29.1 29.1 29.3 29.7 2.0 26.4 26.7 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Classes as taught during a single selected period in each school on the day of the Census in January  Source:  Schools Census 
		
	
	
		
			  Maintained primary schools( 1) : average class size by year group of pupils( 2)  by local authority area and government office region in England, January 2001 
			Taught by 1 Teacher 
			Reception  Year group 1  Year group 2  Year group 3  Year group 4  Year group 5  Year group 6  Year group 7  Mixed year group  Total 
			   England 24.6 26.1 25.9 27.8 28.5 28.4 27.7 26.1 26.0 26.7 
			 
			   North East 23.9 26.3 24.8 27.4 27.8 27.7 26.6 0.0 26.0 25.8 
			 841 Darlington 26.8 26.2 26.8 30.4 30.9 31.4 29.6 0.0 27.5 28.3 
			 840 Durham 23.5 25.2 25.4 27.8 28.6 28.5 26.8 0.0 25.4 26.1 
			 390 Gateshead 23.8 26.0 25.3 27.2 27.5 26.7 25.5 0.0 24.1 25.4 
			 805 Hartlepool 22.9 26.3 25.1 26.6 27.5 27.8 27.0 0.0 26.8 26.3 
			 806 Middlesbrough 23.6 25.8 24.6 26.1 27.1 26.6 26.3 0.0 25.9 25.6 
			 391 Newcastle upon Tyne 24.6 25.4 24.9 27.6 27.7 27.7 27.9 0.0 25.2 26.2 
			 392 North Tyneside 25.1 24.9 23.1 27.2 27.3 26.9 27.4 0.0 24.8 25.6 
			 929 Northumberland 23.1 25.8 25.4 28.5 28.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 23.3 24.9 
			 807 Redcar and Cleveland 24.1 24.8 26.9 27.8 28.5 28.7 27.7 0.0 26.0 26.5 
			 393 South Tyneside 24.4 24.2 24.2 27.9 27.7 27.7 26.4 0.0 20.4 25.8 
			 808 Stockton-on-Tees 24.0 25.6 24.3 27.9 27.1 27.9 26.3 0.0 26.0 25.8 
			 394 Sunderland 22.7 24.7 23.6 25.9 27.0 26.7 25.0 0.0 24.0 24.9 
			 
			   North West 24.4 25.4 26.2 27.9 28.9 29.0 28.1 0.0 25.7 28.7 
			 889 Blackburn with Darwen 26.4 27.3 27.4 30.0 29.8 29.9 29.2 0.0 26.9 28.1 
			 890 Blackpool 26.4 26.5 26.2 30.7 31.0 31.0 28.9 0.0 24.5 28.3 
			 350 Bolton 25.3 24.6 24.4 27.7 28.8 29.5 29.3 0.0 25.7 27.1 
			 351 Bury 23.8 26.1 25.2 28.0 30.3 30.1 28.3 0.0 25.6 26.9 
			 875 Cheshire 24.9 25.5 25.5 27.4 28.7 28.2 27.7 0.0 25.7 26.3 
			 909 Cumbria 23.5 24.5 24.4 26.8 27.6 27.6 26.6 0.0 23.6 25.0 
			 876 Halton 23.0 22.8 25.2 26.6 27.7 28.5 26.5 0.0 24.6 25.2 
			 340 Knowsley 24.9 25.8 25.2 27.8 29.0 26.1 27.1 0.0 27.0 27.0 
			 888 Lancashire 24.5 26.0 25.2 29.3 29.8 30.5 30.0 0.0 26.5 27.3 
			 341 Liverpool 24.1 25.9 25.3 26.5 27.3 27.0 26.5 0.0 23.9 25.9 
			 352 Manchester 24.8 24.8 25.2 27.1 27.3 27.5 27.1 0.0 27.1 26.7 
			 353 Oldham 25.3 26.6 26.3 28.8 30.2 30.4 29.2 0.0 27.2 27.8 
			 354 Rochdale 25.1 26.5 26.4 29.3 28.9 30.2 29.5 0.0 27.2 27.8 
			 355 Salford 24.0 24.0 25.7 27.1 28.7 28.0 28.9 0.0 26.2 26.7 
			 343 Sefton 24.5 26.3 24.6 27.5 29.1 29.8 28.6 0.0 24.8 26.8 
			 342 St. Helens 23.8 23.9 24.5 27.8 30.1 29.7 28.2 0.0 25.3 26.6 
			 356 Stockport 23.5 25.2 25.4 28.4 30.7 29.8 28.1 0.0 26.1 26.6 
			 357 Tameside 25.2 25.6 26.2 28.3 30.2 29.6 29.2 0.0 26.3 27.3 
			 358 Trafford 24.4 25.1 26.3 28.5 29.7 29.9 28.6 0.0 25.8 26.9 
			 877 Warrington 24.4 26.2 25.3 29.2 29.6 29.5 26.9 0.0 26.1 26.8 
			 359 Wigan 24.1 24.6 23.7 28.4 29.7 29.4 28.3 0.0 25.9 26.6 
			 344 Wirral 23.2 24.4 24.5 26.3 26.6 26.9 26.1 0.0 25.2 25.3 
			 
			   Yorkshire and the Humber 23.8 25.8 25.6 27.9 28.5 28.3 27.6 28.5 26.3 26.6 
			 370 Barnsley 19.2 23.7 27.1 29.7 30.1 31.2 30.4 0.0 284 27.7 
			 380 Bradford 25.9 25.9 24.3 27.2 27.6 26.9 26.4 0.0 26.3 26.3 
			 381 Calderdale 24.8 24.4 25.2 28.3 29.1 27.3 27.6 0.0 26.9 26.3 
			 371 Doncaster 25.7 26.7 26.5 27.7 27.8 28.4 26.9 0.0 27.6 27.2 
			 811 East Riding of Yorkshire 24.5 26.7 26.2 28.6 30.1 28.9 29.3 0.0 26.4 27.3 
			 810 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 21.6 24.8 25.0 28.0 28.0 29.1 28.4 0.0 27.4 27.0 
			 382 Kirklees 24.3 26.0 25.9 27.5 29.4 28.8 27.6 0.0 26.9 26.8 
			 383 Leeds 25.4 25.8 25.8 27.6 28.3 28.2 28.1 0.0 26.4 26.9 
			 812 North East Lincolnshire 21.0 24.4 25.5 28.4 28.0 28.7 27.9 0.0 27.0 26.5 
			 813 North Lincolnshire 23.1 25.4 25.5 28.5 29.2 30.1 26.4 0.0 25.8 26.7 
			 815 North Yorkshire 22.7 24.8 25.1 27.6 29.2 28.7 26.9 0.0 24.7 25.3 
			 372 Rotherham 19.2 25.7 26.0 27.3 27.9 28.1 27.4 0.0 25.8 26.1 
			 373 Sheffield 25.7 26.5 25.5 27.7 28.0 27.4 26.5 0.0 25.6 26.8 
			 384 Wakefield 20.7 25.6 26.5 28.8 28.9 28.7 27.7 28.5 27.2 27.1 
			 818 York 22.6 24.2 24.6 26.8 28.0 27.4 27.4 0.0 26.5 25.9 
			 
			   East Midlands 23.4 25.6 26.6 28.0 28.6 28.8 28.2 6.0 26.5 26.7 
			 831 Derby 23.4 25.9 25.3 27.7 28.9 28.6 27.0 0.0 28.3 27.1 
			 830 Derbyshire 24.7 26.2 25.9 28.9 29.9 30.1 29.3 0.0 26.8 27.3 
			 856 Leicester 24.3 25.4 25.5 27.9 27.2 27.0 26.0 0.0 26.1 26.1 
			 855 Leicestershire 23.8 25.6 25.9 27.7 27.2 28.3 28.3 0.0 26.0 26.3 
			 925 Lincolnshire 24.3 25.3 25.6 27.8 28.6 28.9 29.1 0.0 26.1 26.6 
			 928 Northamptonshire 23.8 25.9 25.0 27.1 27.9 27.7 27.3 5.0 25.4 25.9 
			 892 Nottingham 20.1 23.9 25.5 27.3 27.5 27.7 28.7 0.0 26.9 26.7 
			 891 Nottinghamshire 19.8 25.2 25.8 28.7 29.8 29.8 28.4 0.0 27.0 27.2 
			 857 Rutland 21.1 22.6 25.1 27.5 29.5 30.0 29.4 0.0 27.3 26.2 
			 
			   West Midlands 24.6 25.8 25.4 27.5 28.3 28.6 27.3 27.5 25.9 26.6 
			 330 Birmingham 26.6 26.6 26.6 27.6 28.7 28.3 27.3 0.0 26.0 27.3 
			 331 Coventry 24.9 26.0 25.5 26.9 27.3 28.4 27.2 0.0 27.3 26.5 
			 332 Dudley 25.8 25.5 24.5 26.8 27.6 27.1 25.5 0.0 25.4 26.3 
			 884 Herefordshire 22.8 24.1 25.2 27.6 29.1 28.9 27.4 0.0 23.5 25.2 
			 333 Sandwell 26.5 26.9 25.1 28.6 29.1 28.8 27.8 0.0 26.6 27.5 
			 893 Shropshire 19.1 24.9 25.6 27.1 27.6 28.4 26.3 0.0 25.2 25.3 
			 334 Solihull 26.2 26.4 23.0 27.9 29.2 29.6 28.0 0.0 22.5 26.7 
			 860 Staffordshire 22.3 25.0 25.1 26.8 27.9 28.3 27.9 0.0 26.1 25.9 
			 861 Stoke-on-Trent 23.4 24.7 24.0 26.6 27.8 28.5 27.3 0.0 25.6 25.8 
			 894 Telford and Wrekin 19.2 25.4 27.1 28.7 29.5 30.7 30.4 0.0 28.3 27.6 
			 335 Walsall 24.2 24.7 24.8 27.7 28.5 28.3 26.6 0.0 26.6 25.6 
			 937 Warwickshire 23.7 25.3 25.4 27.6 28.6 29.7 27.3 0.0 26.9 26.7 
			 336 Wolverhampton 25.2 24.9 25.2 27.5 28.0 28.0 26.5 0.0 25.4 26.3 
			 885 Worcestershire 24.9 26.3 25.5 27.9 27.6 28.2 27.1 27.5 25.1 26.2 
			 
			   East of England 23.0 26.2 26.3 27.1 28.1 27.9 27.1 25.5 26.0 26.4 
			 820 Bedfordshire 20.8 25.2 24.7 26.8 27.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 25.4 25.2 
			 873 Cambridgeshire 24.9 27.0 27.2 28.4 29.7 28.9 28.8 0.0 27.6 27.5 
			 881 Essex 23.0 26.4 26.9 28.0 28.8 28.3 28.2 0.0 26.8 26.9 
			 919 Hertfordshire 24.7 26.5 26.8 27.7 28.7 28.3 28.6 0.0 26.4 26.9 
			 821 Luton 25.8 26.3 26.7 26.3 27.1 25.1 25.4 0.0 27.6 26.4 
			 926 Norfolk 23.3 25.6 25.3 26.9 26.8 27.0 26.2 26.5 24.3 25.4 
			 874 Peterborough 25.7 26.3 26.7 28.5 28.8 26.5 27.5 0.0 26.7 27.0 
			 882 Southend-on-Sea 25.9 28.0 26.7 30.2 29.9 29.4 27.9 0.0 26.2 28.0 
			 935 Suffolk 21.0 25.4 25.8 26.6 26.8 27.3 26.0 0.0 24.0 24.7 
			 883 Thurrock 22.5 25.9 25.3 27.7 26.8 28.7 27.2 0.0 27.4 26.4 
			 
			   London 26.2 27.3 26.8 27.8 28.1 28.0 27.2 25.1 25.4 27.0 
			   Inner London 26.4 27.5 27.2 27.3 27.6 27.2 26.6 0.0 25.7 26.8 
			 202 Camden 27.7 27.8 28.4 28.3 27.4 26.4 27.2 0.0 26.0 27.2 
			 201 City of London 0.0 30.0 30.0 0.0 29.0 30.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 27.6 
			 204 Hackney 25.7 27.0 26.9 27.0 26.8 26.2 26.7 0.0 25.6 26.2 
			 205 Hammersmith and Fulham 22.0 27.7 28.2 26.1 28.2 27.8 27.0 0.0 21.1 25.9 
			 309 Haringey 28.3 28.2 28.2 27.7 27.7 27.7 28.0 0.0 24.7 27.8 
			 206 Islington 26.4 26.5 27.6 27.8 27.2 27.5 26.1 0.0 25.8 26.6 
			 207 Kensington and Chelsea 26.8 27.0 26.7 25.7 26.4 27.0 25.5 0.0 26.0 26.3 
			 208 Lambeth 27.1 26.5 26.5 26.6 26.7 26.8 25.5 0.0 23.3 26.1 
			 209 Lewisham 26.1 28.3 26.6 26.8 28.0 27.4 26.8 0.0 27.0 26.8 
			 316 Newham 27.9 28.6 28.2 28.8 28.8 28.8 28.0 0.0 28.5 28.3 
			 210 Southwark 25.9 26.9 26.8 27.4 27.3 26.9 26.8 0.0 26.4 26.7 
			 211 Tower Hamlets 26.9 28.0 27.2 26.8 26.7 27.0 26.2 0.0 25.1 26.6 
			 212 Wandsworth 25.6 25.5 24.9 27.2 27.4 26.4 25.0 0.0 25.9 26.0 
			 213 Westminster 22.0 28.3 27.8 25.6 26.6 25.8 25.1 0.0 24.0 25.5 
			 
			   Outer London 26.0 27.2 26.6 28.0 28.3 28.4 27.5 25.1 25.2 27.1 
			 301 Barking and Dagenham 25.8 26.9 26.5 28.1 26.8 27.1 26.0 0.0 24.1 26.6 
			 302 Barnet 26.4 27.5 26.8 27.7 27.9 26.5 26.1 0.0 26.2 27.0 
			 303 Bexley 26.3 27.8 27.1 29.0 29.5 29.8 29.5 0.0 26.9 28.0 
			 304 Brent 26.9 27.6 27.6 28.4 27.5 26.5 27.0 0.0 25.2 27.3 
			 305 Bromley 26.8 27.9 24.9 29.8 30.2 30.0 29.5 0.0 22.0 27.4 
			 306 Croydon 27.1 27.3 26.7 27.8 28.4 29.1 28.2 0.0 25.0 27.8 
			 307 Ealing 26.0 27.0 26.6 27.9 28.1 28.2 27.7 0.0 24.3 26.8 
			 308 Enfield 28.0 27.8 27.5 28.7 30.1 29.4 28.6 0.0 23.8 28.4 
			 203 Greenwich 21.2 25.6 25.9 26.8 27.7 26.6 26.1 0.0 26.6 25.7 
			 310 Harrow 26.8 26.9 27.6 27.9 27.2 28.3 26.8 25.0 25.1 26.9 
			 311 Havering 26.1 27.2 26.9 26.4 27.8 28.5 28.8 0.0 27.3 27.3 
			 312 Hillingdon 25.2 26.6 26.2 26.9 27.9 27.8 25.9 0.0 25.1 28.7 
			 313 Hounslow 25.8 27.1 27.4 26.1 26.0 27.7 25.5 0.0 17.4 26.3 
			 314 Kingston upon Thames 27.3 27.1 23.3 29.8 31.5 31.7 28.0 0.0 27.0 28.1 
			 315 Merton 26.2 26.5 24.7 28.3 27.5 26.6 25.5 25.2 23.7 26.2 
			 317 Redbridge 26.4 28.7 26.8 29.1 29.3 30.1 29.0 0.0 27.5 28.2 
			 318 Richmond upon Thames 27.0 26.9 27.2 27.1 28.4 27.6 25.8 0.0 20.6 28.7 
			 319 Sutton 21.9 26.1 25.8 28.3 29.1 29.9 28.7 0.0 25.7 27.1 
			 320 Waltham Forest 22.6 27.7 27.1 28.8 28.2 28.1 27.2 0.0 27.3 26.8 
			 
			   South East 24.5 26.5 26.5 28.0 28.7 28.5 27.7 26.3 26.4 27.0 
			 867 Bracknell Forest 20.9 26.0 27.3 29.0 28.8 28.5 25.4 0.0 26.6 26.7 
			 846 Brighton and Hove 24.8 26.6 26.4 29.0 29.8 28.7 28.2 0.0 24.7 27.1 
			 825 Buckinghamshire 22.7 25.3 25.0 27.1 28.7 28.7 28.2 0.0 26.0 26.4 
			 845 East Sussex 25.3 27.9 26.3 29.9 31.5 31.2 30.3 0.0 26.8 28.2 
			 850 Hampshire 25.7 26.9 26.8 28.7 29.1 28.6 27.5 0.0 27.2 27.5 
			 921 Isle of Wight 23.3 24.3 25.2 24.9 26.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 25.5 25.1 
			 886 Kent 25.1 27.0 27.5 28.8 29.5 29.0 28.5 3.0 26.5 27.4 
			 887 Medway 25.0 26.6 26.5 27.8 28.9 28.9 28.7 0.0 25.1 27.1 
			 826 Milton Keynes 22.6 25.8 25.6 27.3 27.7 27.9 26.4 27.4 26.2 26.4 
			 931 Oxfordshire 19.0 25.7 24.8 26.8 27.7 28.4 27.4 0.0 26.0 25.9 
			 851 Portsmouth 24.9 26.1 25.9 27.9 28.5 28.9 27.5 0.0 25.5 26.9 
			 870 Reading 19.2 24.8 25.7 26.2 27.8 27.5 26.8 0.0 26.4 26.0 
			 871 Slough 24.2 25.4 25.2 26.2 27.6 27.0 25.5 0.0 24.6 26.0 
			 852 Southampton 25.3 27.3 26.2 29.0 29.1 28.1 29.1 0.0 25.2 27.4 
			 936 Surrey 25.5 27.2 26.9 27.0 27.8 27.4 27.0 0.0 26.1 26.8 
			 869 West Berkshire 19.2 23.5 24.9 26.7 28.1 28.6 26.6 0.0 25.5 25.5 
			 938 West Sussex 25.0 26.9 26.8 28.3 28.1 28.0 26.9 25.7 26.5 26.9 
			 868 Windsor and Maidenhead 19.4 28.0 25.5 25.9 27.0 26.9 28.6 0.0 27.6 26.5 
			 872 Wokingham 20.5 24.0 26.1 28.7 30.1 28.0 26.9 0.0 27.7 26.8 
			 
			   South West 24.6 26.4 26.1 28.4 28.8 28.6 28.5 26.3 26.1 26.7 
			 800 Bath and North East Somerset 25.1 25.8 25.5 27.8 28.3 28.4 27.5 0.0 25.8 26.4 
			 837 Bournemouth 25.6 25.9 23.8 29.0 28.1 26.9 27.2 0.0 24.1 26.5 
			 801 Bristol, City of 25.1 26.3 25.2 27.6 28.2 27.6 26.7 26.0 26.4 26.6 
			 908 Cornwall 23.9 26.9 25.8 29.3 30.0 30.2 30.4 0.0 25.2 26.5 
			 878 Devon 24.4 25.4 26.1 28.4 28.6 28.8 28.7 24.4 26.1 26.5 
			 835 Dorset 23.7 25.5 24.8 28.4 28.3 28.7 29.2 0.0 25.2 26.1 
			 916 Gloucestershire 24.5 27.0 25.9 27.7 28.8 27.4 28.1 0.0 25.5 26.3 
			 420 Isles of Scilly 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 17.1 17.1 
			 802 North Somerset 24.4 26.6 27.6 29.1 28.0 28.0 29.8 0.0 28.5 27.7 
			 879 Plymouth 24.3 26.1 27.5 27.6 28.6 29.0 28.4 0.0 27.2 27.2 
			 836 Poole 26.2 27.3 26.4 30.3 29.0 28.1 28.0 28.3 26.9 27.8 
			 933 Somerset 24.8 26.8 26.6 28.6 29.0 29.4 28.0 0.0 26.5 26.9 
			 803 South Gloucestershire 25.0 26.7 26.9 27.9 30.2 29.6 27.7 0.0 26.2 27.1 
			 866 Swindon 25.8 26.8 27.7 28.8 29.3 29.4 29.8 0.0 27.3 27.9 
			 880 Torbay 26.1 26.5 27.7 28.4 29.7 31.3 30.7 0.0 27.9 28.3 
			 865 Wiltshire 24.1 26.3 26.2 28.2 28.6 28.2 28.9 0.0 25.9 26.3 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Classes as taught during a single selected period in each school on the day of the Census in January.  Source: Schools Census

Correspondence

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he expects to reply to question 115962, tabled on 17 January 2007.

Parmjit Dhanda: I replied to the hon. Lady's question 115962 on 19 January 2007,  Official Report, columns 1387-388W.

Curriculum: History

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans his Department has to reform the national curriculum in history; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: At the request of Government, the QCA is carrying out a review of the secondary curriculum to reduce prescription, improve coherence and create further opportunities for schools to meet the needs of their pupils. A formal consultation on the new secondary curriculum began on 5 February 2007 and will run until 30 April 2007. Revised programmes of study will be available to schools for planning purposes in September 2007, with implementation beginning in September 2008.
	While our overall intention is to increase flexibility for schools and teachers, the new draft history curriculum for Key Stage 3 (11-14) includes proposals for the slave trade and the British Empire to be compulsory elements for the first time, joining the two world wars and the holocaust, which are compulsory in the current National Curriculum.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students in  (a) England and  (b) Wansbeck are in receipt of the education maintenance allowance.

Phil Hope: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council, who operate education maintenance allowances for the DfES and hold the information about take-up of the scheme. Mark Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, has written to my hon. Friend with the information requested and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
	 Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 5 December 2006:
	I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Question that asked "how many students in (a) England and (b) Wansbeck are in receipt of the education maintenance allowance.
	Information on the number of young people who have applied, enrolled and received Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is available at Local Authority level, but not at constituency level. EMA take-up is defined as young people who have received one or more EMA payment in the academic year.
	By the end of October 2006, 404,676 young people in England had applied, enrolled and received one or more EMA payment during the academic year 2006/07.
	By the end of October 2006, 2,563 young people in the Northumberland Local Authority area had applied, enrolled and received one or more EMA payment during the academic year 2006/07.

English for Speakers of Other Languages

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of those students enrolled on programmes of study leading to English for speakers of other languages skills for life are  (a) learners from the European Union,  (b) asylum seekers and  (c) economic immigrants.

Phil Hope: Since 2001, over 1.9 million learners have improved their English language skills on courses funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) through the Skills for Life Strategy.
	Data on Further Education learners are gathered for the LSC through the Individualised Learner Record. Data is therefore a matter for the LSC and Mark Haysom, the Chief Executive has written to my hon. Friend explaining the more detailed arrangements and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
	 Letter from Mark Haysom:
	I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary question regarding the proportion of students enrolled on to Skills for Life English for Speakers of other Language (ESOL) programmes that are learners from the European Union, asylum seekers and economic immigrants.
	Date is gathered through the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). Its primary function is to capture learner suitability to a learning aim and ensure correct payment to the provider of learning, as such there are limitations as to what information we collect and are able to report on.
	Current Skills for Life (SfL) policy means that when a learner has an identified SfL learning need this is the reason for fee remission and so no other reason is looked for or recorded on the ILR, for example whether they are an asylum seeker. Therefore we do not record whether a learner is an asylum seeker as the main reason for receiving funding is the fact that they have an identified SfL learning need. Therefore we are unable to identify asylum seekers.
	As regards economic immigrants we do not ask the purpose for which non-nationals are living and working in the UK and so are unable to say how many of our learners come here as economic immigrants.
	Within the ILR there is a field that records 'country of domicile'. This records the learner's normal country of residence, however, this is often recorded as England as this is where the learners are currently normally residing.
	Analysis of data was undertaken for ESOL enrolments in 2004/05 which looked at the proportion of ESOL enrolments by country of domicile, in 3 broad categories, and these stood at:
	4 per cent. for new EU accession states
	90 per cent. for England
	6 per cent. for rest of the world
	Whilst this shows the majority as having the country of domicile as that of England we believe that this is not the full picture and many of these learners whilst currently living in the UK have originated elsewhere. There is no field on the ILR designed to capture this migration movement.

European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the work programme is of the management board of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: The Management Board of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) meets annually to approve the work programme for the Centre for the coming year. The Management Board comprises representatives of Government, employers' organisations, and employees' organisations from each member state and three representatives from the European Commission. Copies of the agreed work programme are then placed on the Centre's website at: www.cedefop.europa.eu
	CEDEFOP is the acronym, in French, of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training. It was established by Council Regulation 337/75. It is the European Agency that helps promote and develop vocational education and training in the European Union. It has been based in Thessaloniki in Greece since 1995, operating a liaison office in Brussels.
	CEDEFOP's tasks are to:
	1. compile selected documentation and analyses of data
	2. contribute to developing and coordinating research
	3. exploit and disseminate information
	4. encourage joint approaches to vocational education and training problems
	5. provide a forum for debate and exchanges of ideas

European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget is of the management board of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training; and what share is met by the UK.

Bill Rammell: According to the last set of audited accounts for the European Centre for the Development of Vocational training (CEDEFOP), in 2005, the paid administration expenditure of CEDEFOP was €865,000. The costs relevant to the Management Board are paid from this budget line and are not separately identified from other administrative expenditure. The United Kingdom makes its contributions to the EC Budget as a whole and not to individual programmes within it. After taking account of the abatement, the United Kingdom gross share of financing the 2005 EC Budget was 12.06 per cent. The European Court of Auditors report on the 2005 CEDEFOP accounts was laid in Parliament in December 2006 and my department provided an Explanatory Memorandum to the European Scrutiny Committees on 16 January 2007.

Foundation Degrees

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many  (a) HNDs and  (b) foundation degrees were awarded in England in each year between 1998 and 2006.

Bill Rammell: The available information is given in the table.
	
		
			  Students awarded HND and foundation degrees at English HE institutions, 1998-09 to 2005-06. 
			   HND  Foundation degree 
			 1997-98 13,460 n/a 
			 1998-99 13,035 n/a 
			 1999-00 11,655 n/a 
			 2000-01 12,115 n/a 
			 2001-02 12,000 (1)150 
			 2002-03 11,660 1,060 
			 2003-04 9,235 2,855 
			 2004-05 7,500 5,635 
			 2005-06 6,165 8,820 
			 n/a = not applicable. The first Foundation Degree qualifiers were in 2001-02. (1) Before the introduction of foundation degrees there were courses already in existence which had at least some of the attributes described in the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) foundation degree prospectus. In 2000-01 around 800 students were reported to HEFCE through their HESES survey as having been 'marketed by the institution' as a foundation degree and these programmes in 2000-01 are viewed by HEFCE as precursors to foundation degrees. It is likely that foundation degree qualifiers recorded in 2001-02 are from these types of qualification.  Source:  Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record. Figures are rounded to the nearest 5

GCSE

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2007,  Official Report, column 72W, on GCSEs, how many maintained mainstream schools did not enter any pupils for a GCSE in  (a) a modern foreign language,  (b) history and  (c) geography in each year since 1997.

Jim Knight: holding answer 8 February 2007
	The following table shows the number of maintained mainstream schools where no 15-year-old pupils were entered at GCSE in history, geography and a modern foreign language since 1997.
	
		
			   History  Geography  MFL  All schools 
			 1997 94 74 2 3,169 
			 1998 87 69 11 3,168 
			 1999 97 74 8 3,159 
			 2000 85 67 7 3,146 
			 2001 87 73 10 3,133 
			 2002 61 49 8 3,127 
			 2003 71 81 9 3,113 
			 2004 57 64 11 3,111 
			 2005 60 76 16 3,107 
			 2006 68 85 25 3,112 
		
	
	Data for 2006 are revised. Data for all other years are final.

Higher Education: Admissions

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many UK domiciled students at British universities studying for an  (a) full-time and  (b) part-time undergraduate honours degree there were in each year since 1997, broken down by socio-economic category.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 8 February 2007
	The latest available information for full-time students is given in the table. The figures are taken from data collected by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) which are limited to students who apply to full-time undergraduate courses via the UCAS application system. The figures do not therefore cover part-time students or those full-time students who apply directly to higher education institutions.
	The socio-economic classification was introduced in 2002/03 to replace the social class categories, and so the two sets of data in these tables are not directly comparable.
	The latest figures for acceptances to full-time undergraduate courses from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that the percentage of acceptances from lower socio-economic groups has not fallen between 2004/05 and 2006/07.
	
		
			  UK domiciled accepted applicants to full-time undergraduate courses by social class for years of entry 1997-2001—UK higher education institutions 
			Year of entry 
			   Social class  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001 
			 I Professional 39,644 38,510 38,864 38,841 39,748 
			 II Intermediate 117,360 115,615 115,667 117,675 120,831 
			 IIIN Skilled-non manual 37,333 35,610 36,286 37,778 38,774 
			 IIIM Skilled-manual 44,804 44,207 44,474 44,415 48,412 
			 IV Partly skilled 23,507 22,692 23,097 24,152 23,114 
			 V Unskilled 5,620 5,329 5,538 5,535 5,604 
			  Total known 268,268 261,963 263,926 268,396 276,483 
			 X Unknown 35,050 36,257 39,139 40,322 48,989 
			  Total 303,318 298,220 303,065 308,718 325,472 
			
			   Proportion of students( 1)  from:  
			  Classes I—IIIN (percentage) 72.4 72.4 72.3 72.4 72.1 
			  Classes IIIM—V (percentage) 27.6 27.6 27.7 27.6 27.9 
			 (1) Based on those students with a known socio-economic classification.  Source: Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) 
		
	
	
		
			  UK domiciled accepted applicants to full-time undergraduate courses by the national statistics—socio-economic classification for years of entry 2002—2005 UK higher education institutions 
			Year of entry 
			   Socio-economic classification  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 
			 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 61,419 59,472 59,679 59,670 57,010 
			 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 83,476 83,113 84,628 87,107 79,777 
			 3. Intermediate occupations 42,112 40,576 40,790 42,222 37,190 
			 4. Small employers and own account workers 20,056 19,992 19,881 20,668 19,771 
			 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 12,830 13,457 13,114 13,454 12,258 
			 6. Semi-routine occupations 34,647 35,254 35,516 38,866 34,949 
			 7. Routine occupations 15,855 15,183 15,199 16,062 15,267 
			  Total known 270,395 267,047 268,807 278,049 256,222 
			 8. Unknown 61,330 66,895 65,488 82,195 89,342 
			  Total 331,725 333,942 334,295 360,244 345,564 
			
			   Proportion of students( 1)  from:  
			  SEC 1—3 (percentage) 69.2 68.6 68.9 68.0 67.9 
			  SEC 4—7 (percentage) 30.8 31.4 31.1 32.0 32.1 
			 (1) Based on those students with a known socio-economic classification.  Source: Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) 
		
	
	The only available information on the social background of part-time students shows the percentage of young and mature entrants who come from low participation neighbourhoods, and the latest figures (plus the comparable figures for full-time students) are shown in the following tables. Low participation neighbourhoods are those areas for which the participation rate is less than two-thirds of the UK average rate. Information for 2005/06 will be available in July 2007.
	
		
			  Percentage of young entrants to undergraduate courses in HEIs in the UK from low participation neighbourhoods—academic years 1997/98 to 2004/05 
			  Mode of Study  1997/98  1998/99  1999/2000  2000/01  2001/02  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05 
			 Full-time 12.6 12.9 13.0 13.1 13.7 13.9 14.6 14.4 
			 Part-time(1) 16.4 16.4 16.3 16.4 19.8 20.5 18.5 19.2 
			 (1) Who also had no previous higher education qualification.   Source:  "Performance Indicators in Higher Education" published by HESA. 
		
	
	
		
			  Percentage of mature entrants to full-time undergraduate courses in HEIs in the UK (who also had no previous higher education qualification) from low participation neighbourhoods—academic years 1997/98 to 2004/05 
			  Mode of Study  1997/98  1998/99  1999/2000  2000/01  2001/02  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05 
			 Full-time 14.9 14.2 14.8 15.3 15.7 15.4 16.0 16.2 
			 Part-time 7.2 7.2 7.5 7.4 7.7 7.6 8.0 8.3 
			  Source:  "Performance Indicators in Higher Education" published by HESA. 
		
	
	From 2007/08, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) will collect data on the parental education of both full-time and part-time entrants to undergraduate courses. These data should provide useful information on the social background of these students.

Higher Education: Admissions

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many  (a) full-time and  (b) part-time students entered higher education in each academic year between 1996-97 and 2006-07, broken down by socio economic group; and what the drop-out rates were for each of those groups in each year.

Bill Rammell: The information requested is as follows:
	 (a) The latest available information for full-time students is given in the table. The figures are taken from data collected by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) which are limited to students who apply to full-time undergraduate courses via the UCAS application system. The figures do not therefore cover part-time students or those full-time students who apply directly to higher education institutions.
	The socio-economic classification was introduced in 2002-03 to replace the social class categories, and so the two sets of data in these tables are not directly comparable.
	The latest figures for acceptances to full-time undergraduate courses from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that the percentage of acceptances from lower socio-economic groups has not fallen between 2004-05 and 2006-07. This is particularly encouraging in the light of the falling proportion of the wider population that are classified in the lower socio-economic groups.
	
		
			  UK domiciled accepted applicants to full-time undergraduate courses (UK higher education institutions) by social class for years of entry 1997 to 2001 
			   Year of entry 
			   Social class  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001 
			 1 Professional 39,644 38,510 38,864 38,841 39,748 
			 II Intermediate 117,360 115,615 115,667 117,675 120,831 
			 IIIN Skilled-Non Manual 37,333 35,610 36,286 37,778 38,774 
			 HIM Skilled-Manual 44,804 44,207 44,474 44,415 48,412 
			 IV Partly Skilled 23,507 22,692 23,097 24,152 23,114 
			 V Unskilled 5,620 5,329 5,538 5,535 5,604 
			  Total Known 268,268 261,963 263,926 268,396 276,483 
			 X Unknown 35,050 36,257 39,139 40,322 48,989 
			  Total 303,318 298,220 303,065 308,718 325,472 
			
			   Percentage of students( 1)  from:  
			  Classes I - IIIN 72.4 72.4 72.3 72.4 72.1 
			  Classes HIM -V 27.6 27.6 27.7 27.6 27.9 
			 (1) Based on those students with a known socio-economic classification.  Source:  Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) 
		
	
	
		
			  UK domiciled accepted applicants to full-time undergraduate courses (UK higher education Institutions) by the national statistics—socio-economic classification for years of entry 2000-06 
			   Year of entry 
			   Socio-Economic classification  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 
			 1. Higher Managerial and Professional Occupations 61,419 59,472 59,679 59,670 57,010 
			 2. Lower Managerial and Professional Occupations 83,476 83,113 84,628 87,107 79,777 
			 3. Intermediate Occupations 42,112 40,576 40,790 42,222 37,190 
			 4. Small Employers and Own Account Workers 20,056 19,992 19,881 20,668 19,771 
			 5. Lower Supervisory and Technical Occupations 12,830 13,457 13,114 13,454 12,258 
			 6. Semi-routine Occupations 34,647 35,254 35,516 38,866 34,949 
			 7. Routine Occupations 15,855 15,183 15,199 16,062 15,267 
			  Total Known 270,395 267,047 268,807 278,049 256,222 
			 8. Unknown 61,330 66,895 65,488 82,195 89,342 
			  Total 331,725 333,942 334,295 360,244 345,564 
			
			   Percentage of Students( 1)  from:  
			  SEC 1 - 3 69.2 68.6 68.9 68.0 67.9 
			  SEC 4 - 7 30.8 31.4 31.1 32.0 32.1 
			 (1) Based on those students with a known socio-economic classification.   Source:  Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) 
		
	
	 (b) The only available information on the social background of part-time students shows the percentage of young and mature entrants who come from low participation neighbourhoods, and the latest figures (plus the comparable figures for full-time students) are shown in the following tables. Low participation neighbourhoods are those areas for which the participation rate is less than two-thirds of the UK average rate. Information for 2005-06 will be available in July 2007.
	
		
			  Percentage of young entrants to undergraduate courses in HEIs in the UK from low participation neighbourhoods—academic years 1997/98 to 2004/05 
			  Mode of Study  1997/98  1998/99  1999/2000  2000/01  2001/02  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05 
			 Full-time 12.6 12.9 13.0 13.1 13.7 13.9 14.6 14.4 
			 Part-time(1) 16.4 16.4 16.3 16.4 19.8 20.5 18.5 19.2 
			 (1) Who also had no previous higher education qualification.   Source:  "Performance Indicators in Higher Education" published by HESA. 
		
	
	
		
			  Percentage of mature entrants to full-time undergraduate courses in HEIs in the UK (who also had no previous higher education qualification) from low participation neighbourhoods—academic years 1997/98 to 2004/05 
			  Mode of Study  1997/98  1998/99  1999/2000  2000/01  2001/02  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05 
			 Full-time 14.9 14.2 14.8 15.3 15.7 15.4 16.0 16.2 
			 Part-time 7.2 7.2 7.5 7.4 7.7 7.6 8.0 8.3 
			  Source:  "Performance Indicators in Higher Education" published by HESA. 
		
	
	From 2007-08, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) will collect data on the parental education of both full-time and part-time entrants to undergraduate courses.
	These data should provide useful information on the social background of these students.
	Non-continuation figures are available only for full-time entrants to higher education. These figures show the proportion of entrants who do not continue in higher education after their first year. The rates for young and mature entrants to full-time first degrees are shown in the table:
	
		
			  Percentage of entrants to full-time first degrees in HEIs in the UK not continuing in higher education after their first year 
			   1996-97  1997-98  1998-99  1999-2000  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04 
			 Young 7.6 7.6 7.9 7.8 7.1 7.3 7.8 7.7 
			 Mature 15.3 15.3 16.0 15.9 14.5 14.9 15.4 15.6 
			  Source:  "Performance Indicators in Higher Education", published by HESA 
		
	
	Non-continuation rates have not been published by socio-economic class. However, in this instance HEFCE have provided non-continuation figures for young full-time first degree entrants in 2002-03 and 2003-04, broken down by NS-SEC for broad groups of entry qualification levels. These figures are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Percentage of young entrants to full-time first degrees in HEIs in the UK in 2002-03 and 2003-04 not continuing in higher education after their first year 
			Entrants 2002-03  Entrants 2003-04 
			  Entry qualification Categories  Tariff points  NS-SEC 1 to 3  NS-SEC 4 to 7  All entrants with known NS-SEC  NS-SEC 1 to3  NS-SEC 4 to 7  All entrants with known NS-SEC 
			 A-levels or Higher: Unknown 11.6 14.7 12.7 8.1 11.8 9.1 
			  Up to 200 11.3 11.3 11.3 11.1 11.9 11.4 
			  201 to 290 7.8 8.0 7.9 7.6 8.4 7.9 
			  291 to 380 4.7 5.1 4.8 4.9 5.8 5.2 
			  Above 380 2.4 3.2 2.6 2.5 3.4 2.7 
			 
			 Other qualifications  9.4 10.9 9.9 9.2 11.1 9.9 
			 
			 All qualifications  6.4 8.1 6.9 6.0 8.2 6.7 
			  Source:  Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)

Higher Education: Science

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many higher education students of  (a) biological sciences and  (b) physical sciences there were in each year between 1996-97 and 2004-05, broken down by name of degree.

Bill Rammell: The latest available information is given in the tables. Direct comparisons between 1996/97 and 2005/06 are affected by changes in 2002/03 to the definitions and methodology used to compile the figures. The very latest data from UCAS for entry to higher education in 2007 show an above average 10 per cent. increase in some physical science subjects such as physics and chemistry.
	
		
			  Undergraduate enrolments at UK higher education institutions( 1)  by subject( 2)  for the academic years 1996/97 to 2001/02 
			   Academic year 
			  Major subject  1996/97  1997/98  1998/99  1999/2000  2000/01  2001/02 
			 Biology 19,560 18,705 18,825 18,245 17,770 16,930 
			 Botany 415 395 425 330 315 285 
			 Zoology 2,640 2,915 3,015 3,010 3,120 3,095 
			 Genetics 1,365 1,565 1,655 1,635 1,560 1,600 
			 Microbiology 1,650 1,870 1,975 1,885 1,740 1,620 
			 Molecular Biology and Biophysics 610 820 835 705 705 1,100 
			 Biochemistry 6,610 6,385 6,480 6,395 6,070 5,565 
			 Psychology (not solely as Social Science) 20,200 22,260 22,005 22,450 23,110 24,515 
			 Other Biological Sciences 9,765 12,980 13,420 14,590 15,620 16,065 
			 Balanced Combination 1,500 1,895 2,070 2,250 2,000 1,775 
			 Total Biological Sciences 64,315 69,790 70,700 71,500 72,010 72,550 
			
			 Chemistry 15,925 15,475 15,635 14,835 13,625 13,140 
			 Materials Science 535 345 315 230 195 180 
			 Physics 10,265 9,985 9,875 9,630 9,325 8,805 
			 Archaeology as a Physical Science 1,035 1,330 1,345 1,320 1,300 1,485 
			 Astronomy 660 795 1,080 990 1,195 1,150 
			 Geology 4,985 4,720 4,690 4,790 4,605 4,480 
			 Oceanography 475 480 510 550 620 690 
			 Geography Studies as a Science 8,730 8,605 8,635 8,880 8,695 8,470 
			 Environmental Science and Other Physical Sciences 11,695 10,720 10,185 9,775 9,640 8,585 
			 Balanced Combination 1,355 1,595 1,385 1,305 1,195 1,155 
			 Total Physical Sciences 55,660 54,060 53,650 52,310 50,390 48,135 
			 (1) Excludes the Open University. There was a change in recording practices at the Open University (OU) in 2003/04 which resulted in students who would have previously been recorded in the 'Combined' subject category being recorded in the individual subject groups. Prior to 2003/04 all OU students were recorded in the 'Combined' subject category. For OU students prior to 2003/04 it is not possible to produce reliable estimates of the number of OU students in each of the specific subjects within the biological and physical science groups. (2) In 2002/03 the coding frame and the method of recording subject of study was changed. The Joint Academic Classification Scheme (JACS) was introduced, which although similar to the previous coding frame, is not directly comparable. Additionally, figures from 2002/03 onwards are on a full person equivalent basis whereby a student is apportioned between each of their subjects of study, whereas figures prior to 2002/03 were a headcount on the basis of the major subject of study for the student. As such, figures for 2002/03 onwards cannot be compared directly to earlier years.  Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5, and are based on a snapshot count of students as at 1 December of each year.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record data. 
		
	
	
		
			  Undergraduate enrolments at UK higher education institutions( 1)  by subject( 2)  for the academic years 2002/03 to 2005/06. 
			   Academic year 
			  Principal subject  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05  2005/06 
			 Biology 19,045 19,490 19,505 20,155 
			 Botany 295 435 365 280 
			 Zoology 3,250 3,460 3,255 3,300 
			 Genetics 1,820 1,790 1,715 1,585 
			 Microbiology 2,465 2,530 2,530 2,450 
			 Sports Science 16,170 20,480 23,080 26,185 
			 Molecular Biology, Biophysics and Biochemistry 6,970 6,785 6,890 7,070 
			 Psychology 38,640 42,255 45,230 47,035 
			 Others in Biological Sciences 9,085 6,205 5,170 3,780 
			 Balanced Combination—Biological Sciences 930 830 850 990 
			 Total Biological Sciences 98,665 104,260 708,595 112,830 
			 Chemistry 13,000 12,615 12,225 12,155 
			  
			 Materials Science 245 190 175 230 
			 Physics 9,250 9,695 9,670 9,705 
			 Forensic and Archaeological Science 2,120 2,945 4,590 6,495 
			 Astronomy 1,905 1,780 1,780 1,655 
			 Geology 5,000 5,050 4,940 5,115 
			 Ocean Sciences 850 825 840 840 
			 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences 16,780 15,980 15,080 15,110 
			 Others in Physical Sciences 1,935 1,455 1,325 1,580 
			 Balanced Combination—Physical Sciences 925 1,150 1,185 1,265 
			 Total Physical Sciences 52,000 51,690 51,805 54,145 
			 (1) Excludes the Open University. There was a change in recording practices at the Open University (OU) in 2003/04 which resulted in students who would have previously been recorded in the 'Combined' subject category being recorded in the individual subject groups. Prior to 2003/04 all OU students were recorded in the 'Combined' subject category. For OU students prior to 2003/04 it is not possible to produce reliable estimates of the number of OU students in each of the specific subjects within the biological and physical science groups. (2) In 2002/03 the coding frame and the method of recording subject of study was changed. The Joint Academic Classification Scheme (JACS) was introduced, which although similar to the previous coding frame, is not directly comparable. Additionally, figures from 2002/03 onwards are on a full person equivalent basis whereby a student is apportioned between each of their subjects of study, whereas figures prior to 2002/03 were a headcount on the basis of the major subject of study for the student. As such, figures for 2002/03 onwards cannot be compared directly to earlier years.  Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5, and are based on a snapshot count of students as at 1 December of each year.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record data.

Language Courses

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many schools there were where no pupils studied a language at Key Stage 4 in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many schools did not enter any pupils for a GCSE in  (a) history,  (b) geography and  (c) a modern foreign language in each year since 1996.

Jim Knight: The following table shows the number of schools where no 15-year-old pupils were entered at GCSE in history, geography and a modern foreign language since 1996.
	
		
			   History  Geography  MFL  All schools 
			 1996 1,493 1,477 996 5,353 
			 1997 1,511 1,469 1,333 5,358 
			 1998 1,492 1,462 1,334 5,339 
			 1999 1,474 1,437 1,301 5,295 
			 2000 1,429 1,410 1,264 5,240 
			 2001 1,412 1,397 1,267 5,223 
			 2002 1,362 1,348 1,225 5,188 
			 2003 1,377 1,390 1,219 5,170 
			 2004 1,460 1,478 1,345 5,301 
			 2005 1,408 1,454 1,301 5,256 
			 2006 1,576 1,614 1,471 5,206 
			  Note: Data for 2006 is provisional. Data for all other years is final. 
		
	
	This data cover all schools that are published in the Secondary Schools Achievement and Attainment tables and so include special schools and independent schools.

Leonardo da Vinci Programme

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what changes are to be implemented to the Leonardo da Vinci programme in the UK to improve efficiency for the second phase; what the co-funding procedures are; which projects are to be funded; what progress has been made on the development of a common qualifications standard; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: The European Union's Lifelong Learning Programme came into force on 1 January 2007 and incorporates the Leonardo da Vinci Programme as one of its activities. The European Commission has included measures within the new programme to make applications easier and to allow lump sum funding for projects costing less than €25,000. New contracts with the National Agencies managing the programmes ensure that UK priority groups are targeted and take up monitored. Projects accepted for the programme are funded by up to 75 per cent. of the actual costs and project organisers provide co-funding for the remainder. The Commission issued an invitation for applications for the first round of projects with a deadline of 30 March 2007. Project applications received by the National Agency will be assessed and selected on the basis of their quality and available funds.
	A recommendation on establishing the general approach to a European Qualifications Framework was agreed by Ministers at the Education Council 14 November. This text will be the basis for the ensuing negotiation with the European Parliament, whose endorsement is expected later this year.

Midwives: Qualifications

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he has taken to transpose into draft legislation the Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive, with particular reference to midwifery.

Bill Rammell: The Government are taking steps to implement the Directive in the UK. Transposing regulations are being drafted by the Department of Health and will be consulted upon in the spring.

Nurseries: Sure Start Programme

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many neighbourhood nurseries joined the Sure Start programme in  (a) 2004,  (b) 2005 and  (c) 2006.

Beverley Hughes: The neighbourhood nurseries initiative was launched in 2001. It had a target of creating 45,000 new child care and early education places for children aged 0 to five in the 20 per cent. most disadvantaged areas in England. 900 nurseries opened in 2004 and a further 33 opened in 2005. The full target of 45,000 places in 1,279 neighbourhood nurseries was achieved by August 2004. By the end of 2005, over 49,000 places across 1,380 neighbourhood nursery projects had been delivered.
	Based on information received from local authorities, 300 of the 1,066 designated children's centres are based on or are linked to neighbourhood nursery programmes. And we are encouraging local authorities to give neighbourhood nurseries the opportunity to help deliver children's centre services where this makes sense on the ground.

Primary Education: Hendon

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many free part-time early education places were taken up by three and four year olds in Hendon in  (a) 2006-07 and  (b) 1996-97; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: The available information on the number of part-time funded places filled by three and four year olds in Hendon parliamentary constituency and Barnet local authority area is shown in the tables.
	
		
			  Number of part-time funded places( 1, 2, 3)  filled by three and four year olds, parliamentary constituency: Hendon, position in January 
			   Three year olds  Four year olds 
			   Maintained nursery and primary schools( 4)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers( 5)  Total three year olds  Maintained nursery and primary schools( 6)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers( 7)  Total four year olds 
			 2006 690 600 1,300 1,200 210 1,400 
			 (1) A place is equal to five or more sessions and can be filled by more than one child. (2) Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate. (3) For 1997, information on early education places taken up by three and four year olds in the private, voluntary and independent sectors was derived from returns made by local authorities as part of the nursery education grant (NEG) data collection exercise. These data were collected at local authority level, therefore, data for Hendon parliamentary constituency is not available. (4) Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census. (5) Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census. (6) Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census. (7) Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census. 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of part-time funded places( 1, 2, 3)  filled by three and four year olds, local authority Barnet, position in January each year 
			   Three year olds  Four year olds 
			   Maintained nursery and primary schools( 4)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers  Total three year olds  Maintained nursery and primary schools( 6)  Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers  Total four year olds 
			 1997 2,000 n/a 2,000 n/a n/a (6)3,500 
			 2006 2,000 (7)1,400 3,400 3,000 (8)670 3,700 
			 n/a = Not available. (1) A place is equal to five or more sessions and can be filled by more than one child. (2) Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate. (3) For 1997, information on early education places taken up by four year olds was derived from returns made by local authorities as part of the nursery education grant (NEG) data collection exercise. These data do not differentiate between the maintained and private, voluntary and independent sectors. (4) Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census. (5) Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census. (6) Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the nursery education grant data collection exercise. (7) Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census. (8) Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census. 
		
	
	Since April 2004 all three and four year olds have been entitled to a free, good quality, early education place consisting of 12.5 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year. This will be extended to 15 hours a week by 2010 and by that time, parents who wish to do so will also be able to access the free entitlement flexibly across a minimum of three days.
	The latest figures on early education places for three and four year olds in England were published in Statistical First Release 32/2006 "Provision for children under five years of age in England—January 2006 (final)" in August, which is available on my Department's website: www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/.

Schools: Admissions

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he plans to have with local education authorities in sustainable communities plan areas on the future provision of school places in  (a) primary schools and  (b) secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: It is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that there are sufficient schools for pupils in their areas and to plan accordingly. Government Offices for the regions work closely with local authorities in sustainable communities plan areas across the range of their activities, including housing and education. The Department provides capital support for local authorities and schools to invest in school infrastructure, based on the needs of the area as projected by the local authority. Our long-term, strategic capital programmes for primary and secondary schools also involve discussions with local authorities about the provision of pupil places and the buildings and capital implications.

Schools: Fire Extinguishers

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance is given on the installation of sprinkler systems in Building Schools for the Future projects; what guidance is given on steps to minimising school insurance costs; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: Fire Safety in schools is covered by Part B of the Building Regulations. Additional guidance can be found in DfES Managing School Facilities Guide 6 "Fire Safety". DfES will be publishing a new Building Bulletin 100 "Designing and managing against the risk of fire in schools" later this year. This will include extensive guidance on sprinklers.
	DfES will also shortly be publishing a report on the costs of sprinkler systems in schools, a risk assessment tool, and a cost benefit analysis tool which are all intended to help Building Schools for the Future programme managers decide when to install sprinkler systems.
	Schools being aware of risks and managing them appropriately is the key to cutting insurance costs. To help schools manage their risks more effectively DfES is working with local authorities and insurers with the aim of reducing the number of incidents to property and people in schools. A new risk management strategy is being piloted to include a diagnostic risk ranking tool to allow local authorities to assess levels of risk in individual schools and a web based risk management toolkit to provide advice for schools on improving their risks. Both will be available shortly. More information is available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/vfm/

Schools: Music

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many primary schools in each constituency have a teacher with a formal music qualification;
	(2)  how many staff were responsible for musical instrument teaching in  (a) head-count and  (b) full-time equivalent terms in maintained (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in each year between 1996 and 2006.

Jim Knight: The information requested is not collected centrally.
	In 2002 an estimated 6,100 full-time teachers were teaching music in maintained schools in England. This was an increase on the estimated 5,600 full-time teachers teaching music in maintained schools in England in 1996. The source of this information is the Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Surveys for 2002 and 1996.

Schools: Sports

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2007,  Official Report, columns 455 and 1376W, on competition managers, what the age groups were of the participants in the identified competitions, broken down by school year.

Jim Knight: Data were not collected in the format requested.

Schools: Sports

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 7 February 2007,  Official Report, column 998W, on new competitions, how many new participants were produced by these competitions, broken down by sport.

Jim Knight: Data were not collected in the format requested. Information was recorded on attendances by young people generally rather than new participants.

Secondary Education: Curriculum

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will provide an executive summary of the proposals outlined in the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority secondary curriculum review.

Jim Knight: We asked the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to review the secondary curriculum with the aim of raising standards (particularly in English and mathematics); reducing prescription; and promoting innovative, whole-school curriculum planning.
	All of the compulsory subjects will remain in the new curriculum but there will be a reduction in the level of prescribed subject detail and a sharper focus on the essential concepts and skills offered by the subject disciplines. By removing overlap and highlighting connections between the subjects, the new curriculum will create time for teachers to personalise their teaching, allowing them to offer catch up lessons where needed, and to create opportunities for pupils to deepen and extend their learning in areas where they have particular interests and aptitudes.
	Key elements of curriculum content that have stood the test of time will remain but there will be more emphasis on using the curriculum as a whole to develop those personal attributes and life skills which young people will need at work and in their own lives.
	The common format of the new programmes of study will make it easier for schools to make connections between the subjects and to look for ways to make the curriculum more coherent for pupils. Cross-curricular themes such as diversity and creativity have been drawn out and case studies and guidance are offered on a range of additional curriculum opportunities.
	The new secondary curriculum will draw together the various strands of the existing personal development curriculum under the heading of Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE), which will cover both personal and economic well-being.
	At Key Stage 4 specific changes have been made to address progression from Key Stage 3 and the introduction of functional skills in English, mathematics and ICT. The new secondary curriculum will be accompanied by guidance for teachers which will help them track the progress of their pupils, focusing on how well they have grasped the key concepts and skills in each curriculum subject.
	Minor changes to the level descriptions—the benchmarks for pupil achievement nationally—have been made where required.
	More information about the review—including the draft programmes of study—is available online at:
	www.qca.org.uk/secondarycurriculumreview.

Special Educational Needs: Peterborough

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of funding for the establishment of regional centres of expertise for low incidence special educational needs and children with sensory impairments has been allocated to Peterborough local education authority in 2006-07; and what proportion he expects to allocate in 2007-08.

Parmjit Dhanda: Following assessment of detailed proposals, DfES grants to a total of £438,000 were offered in support of the establishment of regional centres of expertise in 2006-07. Funding was however offered to regions not individual authorities.
	Proposals for innovative regional projects in 2007-08 including further work on regional centres have been invited and will be considered during February 2007.

Students: Per-capita Costs

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average marginal cost was of  (a) part-time and  (b) full-time students of higher education programmes for (i) HEFCE and (ii) the LSC in each academic year between 1996-97 and 2006-07.

Bill Rammell: The funding allocated by (i) the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), and (ii) the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is in the following tables.
	The two councils are funded differently reflecting their institutions' needs and this is reflected in the information available. Figures disaggregated by part-time and full-time students are not available. Similarly, for the LSC, it is not possible to disaggregate funding of higher education programmes from that for other provision.
	(i) The funding per full-time equivalent higher education student studying at English institutions funded by HEFCE/TDA is shown in the table; in addition to these totals, institutions have been free from September 2006 to charge up to £3,000 for full-time home and EU undergraduates, with the Government not students meeting the up front costs.
	
		
			  £ 
			  Real terms (2004-05 prices)( 1)  Total funding per planned student  Funding per planned student 
			 1996-97 5,530 — 
			 1997-98 5,380 — 
			 1998-99 5,380 — 
			 1999-2000 5,400 — 
			 2000-01 5,390 — 
			 2001-02 5,400 — 
			 2002-03 5,400 — 
			 2003-04 5,500 — 
			 2004-05 5,530 — 
			 2005-06(2) 5,670 4,820 
			 2006-07 — 4,880 
			 (1) All figures are at 2004-05 prices using the March 2006 GDP deflators, rounded to the nearest £10, and consistent with the plans set out in the Department's 2006 Annual Report. (2) In 2005-06, the difference between the two series is due to two factors: (a) excluding tuition fee income which accounts for about £700 (the difference is less than the standard fee as figures are on an full-time equivalent basis); and (b) the move to the whole-year count method which accounts for the residual. 
		
	
	These funds include recurrent resources for teaching and research provided to the HEFCE and the TDA. The total funding per planned student series also includes fee income. With the introduction of variable fees in 2006, there is no longer a fixed fee paid for each student, and so a new measure 'funding per planned student' is now used, although most higher education institutions are charging £3,000. All figures exclude expenditure on student support costs.
	The coverage of these figures is home (i.e. UK) and EU domiciled students studying at higher education institutions (HEIs) and further education colleges (FECs) in England.
	It is not possible to disaggregate these figures by full- and part-time students because the Department delegates funds to HEFCE and IDA with total expected full time equivalent (FTE) student numbers. It should be noted however that part-time students funded via HEFCE attract a 10 per cent. premium on the rate for FTE students.
	(ii) The figures for unit funding from LSC are not available on a basis consistent with those from HEFCE. The funding per Learning Aim at Level 4 and above funded by the LSC is shown in the table; figures prior to 2004/05 are not available.
	
		
			  Real terms (2004-05 prices)( 1)  Funding per learning aim per annum (£) 
			 2004/05 490 
			 2005/06 530 
			 (1) All figures are at 2004-05 prices using the March 2006 GDP deflators, rounded to the nearest £10. 
		
	
	These figures are derived by LSC from actual funding made available in the corresponding academic year divided by the number of learning aims that LSC have supported.
	These two sets of figures are not comparable, in particular because LSC figures are per learning aim rather than per FTE. For example a learner funded by the LSC is more likely to be studying part-time and could be pursuing a number of learning aims in parallel. Figures are not available on a consistent basis.

Sure Start Programme: Hendon

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many  (a) Sure Start and  (b) under fives child care places are available in Hendon; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: Both of Barnet council's designated Sure Start Children's Centres are located in the Hendon constituency—Parkfield Community School and Children's Centre and Wingfield Children's Centre. These centres offer a full range of services including health and family support, full day care integrated with early learning and links with Job Centre Plus. Between them, the centres offer 91 child care places and reach around 2,192 children. Barnet council is planning to open a further four children's centres in the Hendon constituency by March 2008 as part of phase 2 of the programme. The number of registered childcare places(1) for children under eight in Barnet local authority area was 9,300 as at 31 March 2006. The latest figures on registered childcare provider and places are available on: www.ofsted.gov.uk/.
	(1 )Includes full day care, sessional day care, childminders, out of school and crèche day care.

Unauthorised Absences

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many unauthorised absences were recorded at  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools in each local education authority in each year from 1997 to 2006.

Jim Knight: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) on 19 February 2007,  Official Report, column 277W.

Unauthorised Absences

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many unauthorised absences there were from schools in each London borough in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: Unauthorised absence is absence without leave from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes all unexplained or unjustified absences, such as lateness, holidays during term time not authorised by the school, absence where reason is not yet established and truancy.
	The following tables contain the figures requested.
	
		
			  Percentage of half days missed in maintained mainstream primary schools( 1)  in London boroughs due to unauthorised absence 
			  Local authority  1997/98  1998/99  1999/2000  2000/01  2001/02  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05  2005/06 
			 Barking and Dagenham 1.2 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.52 1.37 1.34 1.27 1.22 
			 Barnet 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.64 0.56 0.65 0.74 0.54 
			 Bexley 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.36 0.35 0.33 0.44 0.54 
			 Brent 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.49 0.41 0.55 0.54 0.59 
			 Bromley 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.40 0.43 0.60 0.53 0.67 
			 Camden 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.10 0.77 0.56 0.57 0.60 
			 Croydon 0.6 0.7 0.5 0.7 0.55 0.69 0.73 0.63 0.66 
			 Ealing 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.25 0.22 0.27 0.26 0.32 
			 Enfield 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.11 1.11 0.81 0.75 0.71 
			 Greenwich 1.7 1.6 1.4 1.3 1.38 1.45 1.24 1.16 1.33 
			 Hackney 1.3 1.5 1.5 1.6 1.36 1.36 1.16 1.04 1.12 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 1.3 1.4 1.2 0.9 0.61 0.76 0.70 0.62 0.75 
			 Haringey 1.4 1.4 2.0 1.7 1.62 1.39 1.13 1.21 1.08 
			 Harrow 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.32 0.21 0.17 0.14 0.17 
			 Havering 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.21 0.24 0.22 0.27 0.31 
			 Hillingdon 0.8 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.71 0.67 0.58 0.55 0.59 
			 Hounslow 0.9 0.8 0.9 1.1 1.03 1.19 1.16 1.08 1.10 
			 Islington 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.20 1.26 0.96 0.81 0.72 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 1.4 1.3 0.9 1.1 0.89 0.59 0.40 0.35 0.46 
			 Kingston upon Thames 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.25 0.22 0.23 0.29 0.24 
			 Lambeth 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.2 1.07 1.07 0.97 1.01 0.99 
			 Lewisham 1.3 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.35 1.06 0.97 1.09 1.11 
			 London, City of 1.9 1.6 1.9 0.9 0.32 0.00 0.29 0.03 0.03 
			 Merton 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.38 0.35 0.33 0.39 0.27 
			 Newham 2.0 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.53 1.04 0.71 0.76 0.89 
			 Redbridge 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.76 0.77 0.77 0.80 0.93 
			 Richmond upon Thames 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.27 0.32 0.35 0.44 0.53 
			 Southwark 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.78 1.74 1.61 1.34 1.23 
			 Sutton 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.41 0.26 0.31 0.37 0.50 
			 Tower Hamlets 1.7 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.38 1.20 1.19 1.22 1.24 
			 Waltham Forest 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.53 0.54 0.68 0.53 0.64 
			 Wandsworth 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.56 0.58 0.57 0.57 0.62 
			 Westminster, City of 1.1 1.4 0.9 0.9 0.77 0.62 0.51 0.68 0.87 
			 England 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.45 0.43 0.41 0.43 0.45 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed.  Notes: 1. Due to local government reorganisation, regional figures are not available prior to 1998. 2. Figures are available to one decimal place prior to 2001/02 and two decimal places from 2001/02 onwards. 
		
	
	
		
			  Percentage of half days missed in maintained mainstream secondary schools( 1)  in London boroughs due to unauthorised absence 
			  Local authority  1997/98  1998/99  1999/2000  2000/01  2001/02  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05  2005/06 
			 Barking and Dagenham 2.0 2.0 1.7 2.0 2.04 1.91 1.93 2.00 1.58 
			 Barnet 0.8 0.9 1.1 1.3 0.95 0.97 1.07 1.01 0.92 
			 Bexley 0.5 0.6 1.1 1.1 1.19 0.75 1.11 0.71 1.12 
			 Brent 0.7 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.73 0.86 0.56 1.05 0.78 
			 Bromley 0.6 0.6 0.6 1.1 1.10 1.09 1.00 1.13 1.16 
			 Camden 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.6 1.41 1.58 1.17 1.38 2.24 
			 Croydon 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.68 1.10 1.18 1.39 1.37 
			 Ealing 1.4 1.2 1.2 1.0 1.02 0.87 0.70 0.74 0.72 
			 Enfield 1.0 1.4 1.7 1.8 1.92 1.85 1.49 1.85 1.63 
			 Greenwich 2.4 2.2 1.9 2.3 2.49 2.37 2.82 2.69 2.85 
			 Hackney 2.2 2.6 2.2 3.1 2.57 2.07 1.86 1.88 1.23 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 2.8 2.6 2.2 2.0 1.76 1.69 1.72 1.66 1.12 
			 Haringey 1.9 2.1 2.3 1.9 2.43 2.32 1.84 1.86 1.83 
			 Harrow 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.69 0,52 0,48 0,51 0.45 
			 Havering 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.7 0.60 0.56 0.61 0.64 0.83 
			 Hillingdon 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.1 1.49 1.63 1.43 1.58 1.71 
			 Hounslow 1.0 1.2 0.9 1.0 1.05 1.02 1.15 1.09 1.31 
			 Islington 2.7 2.6 2.0 2.0 1.65 1.51 1.41 1.72 1.69 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 2.4 2.4 1.8 2.4 1.91 1.66 1.01 0.59 0.66 
			 Kingston upon Thames 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.6 0.57 0.51 0.33 0.61 0.58 
			 Lambeth 1.5 0.9 1.0 1.2 0.99 0.60 0.50 0.58 0.55 
			 Lewisham 2.6 2.5 2.9 3.5 2.68 2.38 2.49 1.91 1.83 
			 London, City of — — — — — — — — — 
			 Merton 2.5 2.2 1.7 1.5 1.20 1.34 1.34 1.62 1.01 
			 Newham 3.2 3.2 2.7 2.3 2.12 1.60 1.23 1.09 0.95 
			 Redbridge 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.73 0.69 0.94 0.93 0.91 
			 Richmond upon Thames 1.0 1.5 1.9 2.5 2.54 2.10 1.99 2.51 2.34 
			 Southwark 2.6 2.3 1.9 1.8 1.74 1.79 1.59 1.69 2.21 
			 Sutton 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.89 0.66 0.69 0.67 0.76 
			 Tower Hamlets 2.8 2.2 2.5 2.6 2.41 2.03 1.97 2.42 2.05 
			 Waltham Forest 2.3 1.8 1.4 2.0 1.72 1.37 1.57 1.74 1.36 
			 Wandsworth 1.7 1.2 0.8 0.7 1.34 1.09 0.82 1.11 1.22 
			 Westminster, City of 3.2 3.9 3.1 2.4 1.76 1.59 1.95 1.77 1.98 
			 England 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.09 1.07 1.13 1.23 1.20 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed.  Notes: 1. Due to local government reorganisation, regional figures are not available prior to 1998. 2. Figures are available to one decimal place prior to 2001/02 and two decimal places from 2001/02 onwards.